The City and the Ghost: Redux
by DarkAngelTorchic
Summary: Once an elite trainer famous for defeating Team Galactic, Delaney has been in isolation for nearly a year following the events of the Spear Pillar. Surely nobody would think to look for her in Unova, posing as a novice beginning her journey amidst overzealous liberation groups, annoying neighbors and pokemon that hide under the bed from her, right?
1. i was lying, this is defeat

"Why is the machine making those noises?"

"It's picking up some sort of activity."

"Does that mean she's waking up?"

"It's hard to know for sure, but-"

* * *

"They're opening! Arceus, they're opening! She's awake! Go get Mr. Caldwell. Also a nurse."

Delaney winced before she had even had her eyes open a minute. The pain in her head was unlike anything she had ever felt. A cool, clammy hand covered hers as she gripped the railing on the bed. Opening her eyes for a second time made her privy to the absolutely least convincing smile she had ever seen. The strain in his topaz eyes was impossible to miss, his normally stylishly tussled blonde hair clearly hadn't been washed in days and both his orange and white striped shirt and the kelly green scarf he paired it with had coffee stains dribbled down them. "Good morning sunshine. I was getting ready to fine you a hundred million if you didn't wake up soon. Lucas just went to grab a nurse so she'll be here to help with your pain in just a minute, okay?"

"What in the fuck is going on?" she asked with a grimace as she tried to pull herself upright. It was only then that she noticed the needle in her arm and the massive bruising around where the IV had entered her skin. "What the actual fuck?" she asked, panicked. "What happened, Dax?"

"Arceus, do you really not remember?" He was bewildered. "Delaney Christa Caldwell, you beat Team Galactic, you saved the world! You're a fucking hero!"

"Watch your language!" a nurse scolded. She shot a bright smile at Delaney as she prepared to inject something into her IV. "Welcome back, Miss Caldwell. Can you rate your level of pain for me on a scale of 1-10?"

"9," she said, the high level an automatic response to the throbbing at her temples. She didn't count the pit that was settling into her stomach just yet.

* * *

"Hi, it's Delaney! Sorry I missed your call, but leave me a message and I'll call you back!" Except that she wouldn't, as everyone was now well-aware. Still, she was curious to listen to her messages. Only three this week. People were getting tired of her silence, which was a relief. She was sick of making excuses of why she wasn't responding.

"Hi Delaney, this is Jordan from Channel 4 in Hearthrome, how are you?" a female's chirpy voice rang out. "I'll cut to the chase- we'd like to do a feature on you for our morning news next week. You know, something cutesy and feel-good, tell everyone how you're doing a year after Galactic… An anniversary special! Nobody's seen much of you lately, so I'm sure everyone would like to see that you're doing well, training, that kind of stuff. You can call me back at-" _Erase._

"Delaney Christa Caldwell, I am fining you fifty million dollars if you don't start answering your damn Crosstransceiver. This is the fourth call you haven't answered and you know damn well I can't go down there right now to see that beautiful, infuriating face of yours, so call me the fuck back. Ok, bye!"

Delaney had to chuckle at that one, but still she hit erase. "Delaney, it's your father. You not answering your phone is very childish and it's getting very old. Please stop ignoring me. I'm here to help you and I love you." _Erase._

* * *

The best part about Pastoria City was that it was quiet. The worst part was everything else. Of course, there was the rain that would last for days on end, the fishy smell in the air and the mud that caked every pair of shoes she owned. There was also the creepy fisherman that lived in the cottage next to the Pokemon Center with his mother who leered at her when she bothered to leave (Delaney had dubbed him 'Leech') and last but not least, the still-destroyed Great Marsh, courtesy of Team Galactic.

It wasn't like she had spent much time there as a trainer, because it was too touristy and gimmicky to really catch the fifteen year old's attention, especially considering there wasn't anything she particularly wanted to add to her team in there. Really, it represented when Team Galactic had crossed the line from being annoying idiots with a groupthink mentality to actually being a Problem with a capital P, and not just any Problem, but Delaney's Problem. "Chase down that grunt," they had told her, and she had. She had chased him all the way to Lake Valor, sweat glistening off her forehead as she ran after him in the afternoon sun, her well-worn sneakers hitting the sand.

It was safe to say that Pastoria was not Delaney's first choice for residency, but few reporters wanted to risk ruining their hair and expensive footwear and the peace and quiet from the media was precisely what Delaney needed. Of course, she still got calls asking for interviews, like the one she had deleted earlier in the day from dear old Jordan from channel 4, but down here, at least they were easier to avoid. Also easier to avoid was, well, everyone. With Dax up in the Battle Frontier, training under dear old daddy Palmer, and her father busy with his numerous deals, it was easy to remain in solitude- it wasn't like anyone else was looking to spend any quality time with her.

Jordan's call had been on her mind for most of the morning, if only because it had served to remind Delaney that it had almost been a year- "a year after Galactic", Jordan had said. With the formerly great and now mainly just muddy marsh just down the road, Delaney got to see the remnants of what she mentally referred to as "The Incident" any day that she decided to wander outside of the Center (though the Marsh, the rain and Leech were enough to deter her from doing so most days). Since leaving the hospital after The Incident, each day had crawled by, so it stunned Delaney to think that it had almost been a full 365 days since then.

"I'm sure everyone would like to see that you're doing well, training, that kind of stuff." Except that she wasn't. She could understand why Jordan of Channel 4 would've thought that, after her highly publicized battles with the Sinnoh League and "devastating" loss to Cynthia… Well, devastating to those who wanted to see Delaney win and not really devastating to Delaney at all.

Honestly, she should never have gone to the Pokemon League at all, but at least in the beginning, she had been pliable to the suggestions of others. The idea of not completing her journey filled her with guilt- wasn't this what she had been working for? Shouldn't she _want _to go? Not everyone got to the final gym battle with Volkner- shouldn't Delaney realize that she had an amazing opportunity, one that only a select handful of trainers got? These were the arguments given to her by her father, by Dax, by Cynthia, and at first, she had listened.

She did realize how fortunate she was, but it didn't really change the way she felt. Blake had pleaded, even cried a little, telling her that getting back to her normal routine would help Delaney get back to "normal". As soon as she looked out upon the city and realized that the damage from Galactic that had scathed so many other places in Sinnoh and left her in the hospital for a month and a half hadn't touched this technological wonderland at all, she realized there was no "normal" anymore and she just wanted to bury herself in her blankets and never come out.

Even though she hadn't been to Sunyshore since a childhood vacation and thus had no memories associated with Team Galactic in this city, reminders of The Incident were everywhere she went. There was nothing on television but trials of the higher-ups, rebuilding coverage and "eyewitness" testimonies. People she had never met would come up and hug her and thank her for saving them, leaving Delaney to sputter awkwardly because she wasn't quite sure how to respond to such a thing. Several people had even suggested that Volkner should coordinate a parade and celebration from "the heroine from Hearthrome that defeated Team Galactic" but luckily for Delaney, Volkner wasn't particularly enthused about the idea to begin with. Once Delaney had told him that she wouldn't show up even if he did do it, he put the lid on that idea. He had just chuckled and said that parades were ridiculous and Delaney had nodded. Then she had destroyed his team with a combination of Blitzkrieg and Bellby and he had a grin a mile wide as he handed her that last badge and wished her luck at the Pokemon League. She didn't smile back.

As she and her pokemon set up camp in Victory Road on their way into the League headquarters, she pulled away and slept alone where she once would've kept close to them. Blitzkrieg, the feisty infernape that had accompanied her since the first day of her journey and who often walked beside her, stayed in his pokéball more often than not and instead of wearing the expensive belt that held her pokèballs close to her, they now stayed in her tote bag. It was too painful for her to see five instead of six and when a veteran trainer with a carnivine challenged her and she reached for that sixth ball and found nothing, she had an anxiety attack in the middle of the battle and had to be taken back to the Pokemon Center at the beginning of Victory Road. No, it wasn't the fault of any of her pokemon, but she felt disconnected to them all the same.

She couldn't celebrate with them as Blitzkrieg tore through Aaron's bugs. She didn't giggle as she once might've as Bertha congratulated her on winning and mentioned that she had a grandson around Delaney's age. Flint was nothing more than a sidebar after Hazel, her gastrodon, knocked him out and even Lucien, with his powerful psychics, had been rocked by her luxray, Samuel. She didn't even crack a smile when Hazel knocked out Cynthia's lucario with a single earthquake and the only emotion she felt when Hazel then fell to the garchomp Cynthia sent out was relief.

Arceus, she would've been a horrible champion anyways.

Dax had been waiting for her as she walked out of Cynthia's battle chambers, probably waiting to wipe some tears, but Delaney had shrugged him off. There had also been a pack of reporters, ravenous as hungry mightyena, but she had shrugged them off too. That night, she had left her pokemon at home and went out for a jog around route 212, as she had done many times, except on this night, she decided she didn't want to come back, and that was that. She had told a ranger that she needed to get to Pastoria and he had flown her on his staravia and since then, she had inhabited a room in the Pokemon Center.

At first, the calls had been hysterical, pouring in one after another, until finally Delaney answered one, knowing damn well that Blake Caldwell would call in all armed forces of Sinnoh if she didn't. "I need some time off," Delaney had told him. "I need to get away."

"I don't know why you couldn't have told me that!" Blake had said hysterically. "Arceus, Delaney, you left without telling anyone. Do you think this is easy for me? I almost lost you once and now I can't help but think that I might lose you every single time you walk out the door."

Delaney was quiet. For a moment, she felt guilt for scaring her father, but she pushed it away. _Don't you dare. It's too late for you to start caring now._

* * *

The sound of knocking on the door woke Delaney up from a sleeping-pill induced nap, the only sort of peaceful sleep she ever got. Well, so much for peace- whoever was knocking had thrown that idea out the window. It was such an odd sound, the knocking- nobody had knocked on the door of room 214 of the Pastoria Pokemon Center since Delaney had begun occupying it. She sat up in her bed, blinking away the sleep and wondering if the knocking had been in her dreams. Nobody knew where she was, so how could anyone be here?

_Knock, knock, knock._

Delaney groaned and threw her platinum hair into a haphazard ponytail as she crossed the room to the door. "Ugh, why do these doors not have peepholes?" she muttered to herself. Wasn't that like, a safety hazard anyways? With a grimace, she threw the door open, only to find a tall blonde girl, younger than Delaney herself, with a heart-shaped face and a plain black jersey knit dress.

"Miss Delaney?" she said cautiously.

Delaney raised her eyebrows at her. "Who are you?"

"My name is Annette," she said, pushing a lock of her golden hair behind her ear. "I work for your father. He-"

"Fuck!" Delaney swore loudly. "How in the fuck does he know where I am?"

Annette's eyes widened. "Um, I don't know. He, um, sent me here to check on you and um, see if you'd like to come home for a bit. He'd really like to speak with you, Miss Delaney."

Delaney sighed. "Did he say why he couldn't come himself? Because you know, that'd probably be a better argument. Like he actually cared enough about my well-being to trek all the way to Pastoria."

"I don't know. I, um, think he might have been working," Annette said, looking down at the black pleather flats that adorned her feet, mud covering the bottom of them. "But I do know that he would be very pleased by your presence."

"Ugh, you poor sap, forced to do his dirty work," Delaney grimaced. She had to admit, she did feel bad for the girl. The cheap shoes on her feet had been ruined by the Pastoria mud and the thin cloth jacket she wore was more than likely no match for the greater amount of precipitation. "I'll come for the night, but that's it and then I'm leaving again. I'm not coming back to Pastoria either. I'll go somewhere nobody can find me for real." Though she didn't know where that was yet, she was damn certain she would eventually find it.

"That sounds great, Miss Delaney," Annette said, exasperation tingeing the sweet soprano tone of her voice. "Would you like me to help you gather your things?"

"I can get it," Delaney snapped. She glanced around the room and for the first time, realized just how little she had with her. She had four shirts, four shorts, a pair of sweatpants and a white cotton bra, all of which were flung in random directions around the room. Looking out of place was a lone strapless navy blue cotton dress hanging up in the closet. Delaney wasn't sure why she had bought it in the first place, but it had seemed like an important purchase at the time. Delaney half-considered apologizing and asking Annette to help her after all as she picked up and folded a plain mint green t-shirt, but she thought better of it and glared at the girl instead.

She didn't want to seem incapable, after all.

* * *

**Author's Note (4/21/14):** Hello all, and welcome (or welcome back) to _The City and the Ghost: Redux_! If you are new to this story or you are an old reader that didn't see my update regarding the original, this is the basics: I wrote the original TCatG (as I have affectionately dubbed this story) in 2011 and ended it exactly 365 days later. I threw the original plans I had for the story out the window when my hard drive crashed and I lost everything I had for the story and so I rewrote my outline, cut the story in half and decided to write a sequel instead of the original ending. This turned out to be an awful idea, and I am at the point with the sequel that I will never end up finishing. While I won't delete the originals, I also will no longer be continuing.

I made the executive decision to reboot the story and follow more closely the original plans I had. In writing and planning for this reboot, I have made a lot of changes, both to the plot and character. While I wouldn't say this is a completely brand new story, I will say that there are enough changes to be able to treat them as two separate entities. Especially as we get into chapter two, those of you who are returning readers will see some huge changes to how this is going to go. One of these that should be noted, particularly by any younger readings, is that this is a hard T rating, particularly where language is concerned. This may ease up as we go along, but I will say that the ending stretch will return to this hard T and may even be changed to an M, depending.

If you can't already tell, I am really excited to be going back to this story and trying to fix some of the mistakes I made the first time and just in general make this the best story I can. I very much appreciate all feedback, particularly constructive feedback, so please let me know what you think, whether you're new to the fabulously dysfunctional world of Delaney Caldwell or you're here for the reboot.

Those of you who are familiar with my writing know that my updates are usually inconsistent at best (and that's probably the nice way of putting it) due to a very busy school schedule, but this time around, I'm actually going to be sticking with weekly updates! This is mainly because I graduate in May and actually have a good amount of time on my hands to be dedicating to writing (shocker, I know) but also because this has been an idea I've been kicking around for awhile and so I've had time to get things rolling.

Lastly, a tremendous thank you as always to my wonderful wonderful beta reader, **Noteleks!**

I swear, this is the longest author's note you'll get from me, but I figured we'd all get on the same page before we really kick things off, yes? So here we go, we're back in business and see you next week for chapter 2! Hurray!


	2. it's okay to be angry and never let go

Walking through the front door of her father's palatial home never failed to make Delaney feel like a child. Originally belonging to Delaney's great-grandparents, it was officially known as the "Pokemon Mansion" and often treated as a tourist destination because of her father's spacious backyard full of pokemon which he opened to trainers. When Delaney had been a child, everything about the garden had fascinated her: from the trainers who visited it to the breeders and collectors who contributed to it. It was through one such breeder that Delaney got Blitzkrieg when he was a feisty prankster of a chimchar.

Now, the strangers on her property made her feel uneasy. More than a couple pointed to her as she followed behind Annette, who had dismounted from her father's staraptor outside of the main gates to the property. Delaney grimaced and shoved her hands into pockets of her oversized black hoodie, purposefully avoiding their gazes behind an oversized pair of sunglasses. She had to force herself not to charge at an older woman who took a picture using her cell phone as Delaney walked by. _Where in the hell do these people get off…_

Annette opened the door and Delaney followed her inside. As she stared around the front entrance, the winding marble staircases seemed at once bigger and smaller than they once had and even though Delaney had grown up in this house, she felt oddly like a stranger now. "You look too thin." Delaney hadn't noticed her father in the foyer, but there he stood, wearing a pair of khaki shorts, a white short-sleeved shirt and a tan sweater around his shoulders. Though it was hot out, Blake was often cold and kept a sweater on him "just in case". He stared at Delaney like he was looking at a stranger and then gestured towards the hallway. "Come on, we have a lot to talk about."

"We can talk over dinner," she said and at that, she began to trudge towards the stairs to go up to her bedroom.

"We'll talk now," he stated sternly in his "Mr. Backlot Businessman" voice. He only used it on Delaney when he was of the utmost seriousness, and apparently, that was now.

Sighing a bit to herself, Delaney went back down the stairs, knowing there was no way to avoid this conversation. "In the library, Del," he said, and began to walk down the west hallway. Of course, the library was where he held the most detrimental conversations, so this was bound to be a doozy. She followed after him and entered the spacious room a couple of paces after her father. It was her least favorite room in the house. Whereas most libraries felt comfortable, like a place to waste the day in a fantasy world in front of a crackling fire, Blake's was more like a second office, a better office than his own official office. His original office at least had traces of him in it, with Pokemon books scattered around and rare, interesting artifacts on display. This had none of those little inserts, just rows upon rows of books Delaney was certain nobody had ever touched. It seemed almost pretentious, which was odd to her because her father most certainly wasn't.

Or at least, her father wasn't. "Mr. Backlot Businessman" was a bit full of himself.

Delaney took a seat in one of the plushy crushed velvet armchairs, hardly feeling worthy to sit on it, much less make herself comfortable and relaxed. She sat up as straight as a pin (like a proper lady, mind you) and tossed her hair behind her shoulder, because it was her father's biggest peeve to not be able to see her eyes when he was speaking to her. She looked him directly in the eye (hoping it wasn't a move she would regret) and simply said, "Ask away".

"What do you know about Unova?"

Even with the question mark at the end of the sentence, Delaney knew that he wasn't so much asking a question rather than waiting for her to give him information. Before she had started training, he had used the same tactic on her to figure out why she had failed a test or where she had been after curfew. Now it meant that she had done something that was somehow related to Unova that Blake probably didn't like, though what it was she wasn't sure. Had she said something about Unova in an interview back when she had done them? Shit, she didn't know. This was an odd way to begin a conversation.

"Other than the fact that Lydia lives there, nothing," Delaney said. She paused, thinking. "Wait a second-"

"Bear with me, Delaney," Blake said curtly. That was his code for "let me talk without interruption" and had been since she was an adolescent. He grabbed a small box from by his feet and handed it to her.

Delaney looked up at Blake in confusion. "What is this?"

He raised his eyebrows at her and adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses. "See for yourself."

Inside were a pokeball and a note, folded over several times. But which to open first?

Well, she _could_ go for the pokéball, but there was the potential for some sort of bloodthirsty magmortar or garchomp with orders to kill could pop out and that just wouldn't be good. It wasn't like Delaney wasn't on some shit lists, that was for sure.

So the rational side of her grabbed the note first.

_It's an oshawott._

_I knew that would be your first question, because I knew you'd want to release the pokemon first._

"What in the actual fuck…" Delaney muttered. What kind of crazy stalker psycho was sending her things? And not only that, but they apparently barely knew her to boot, because seriously, who would open the pokéball first?

_He was first given to me by Professor Aurea Juniper and when I first saw him, I thought of you. I hope he'll convince you of what I'm about to say._

_You need to leave Sinnoh immediately. You aren't safe._

_Come to Unova. Come find me._

_I know you have questions. I hope one day I'll be able to answer them, but now is not the time for questions. Please listen to me, Delaney. I hope to see you soon._

_-A_

The note gave Delaney no answers, only questions. Who did she even know whose name started with an A? Aaron, the bug master of the Elite Four. She could cross him off the list immediately; he hadn't been exactly fond of her after she had demolished him as easily as she would some youngster who was a little too obsessed with wearing shorts. There was also a Frontier Brain named Argenta, though Delaney had never met her, so there was absolutely no reason to send her anything.

And what was an oshawott? Delaney grabbed the pokéball to release it, but Blake grabbed it first, his eyes trained on Delaney's face as it wrinkled in utter confusion. "Who's A?" he asked quietly.

"I have no idea," Delaney said honestly. "I don't even know anybody whose name starts with A."

"What reason does this A have to believe that you're not safe?" he asked in the same even tone.

"I have no idea!" Delaney repeated, this time more shrilly. "I rarely leave my damn room. Nobody knows where I am!"

"Well I found you, so if someone was really looking for you, it wouldn't be too hard," Blake retorted. Delaney almost remarked that this was probably in large part due to the fact that he had money, but held her tongue. That wasn't important right now. What was important was who in the hell was sending her foreign pokemon and begging her to leave home?

"I… I honestly have no idea who sent this or why," Delaney said, her violet eyes wide as she looked uncertainly at Blake.

"Well, Delaney, it's not like I'm well-versed right now in what you've been up to and who you've been contacting," he said, adjusting his glasses again. And then came what Delaney was most afraid of- his steely look disappeared and his eyes filled with concern. It's an understatement to say I'm worried about you, Del. I know you went through some difficulties with Team Galactic, but it's been almost a year. I was hoping you could've gotten past this by now."

"You're kidding me, right?" Delaney asked incredulously. "You really asked me here to tell me I should be _over some difficulties _by now?" Though she wasn't much of a crier, Delaney felt tears sting the corners of her eyes. How _dare_ he insinuate that she _should've been past this_? How did anybody even get past something like Team Galactic? Blake was continuing to ramble concerned father type things, but all Delaney could focus on was the weird mix of feelings coursing through her. There was the anger, yes, but something also felt a bit like disappointment. While her father hadn't yet given up on the idea of getting Delaney back to "normal", he had given up trying to understand the very not-normal things Delaney was going through.

"You can't just isolate yourself from everyone," Blake continued. "Del, don't you want to be happy?"

And that right there was it. Delaney stood up, leaving a sweaty handprint on the crushed velvet chair as she did so, and stared down at Blake with angry tears running down her face.

"Delaney Christa Caldwell, sit down! This conversation isn't over!" he bellowed. Concerned father was gone. Mr. Backlot Businessman was back, and he was angry that he lost. As Delaney walked out of the library and back down the west hallway, there was an ironic smirk on her face. Despite everything, it was nice to know that she was no longer the only one feeling out of control. The maids whispered as she passed them and she shot them irate glances as well before sliding her sunglasses back on.

* * *

"Delaney! There you are!" The first one was a surprise. When she looked towards the voice, there was a bright light, which caused her to see spots, followed by the onset of more flashing lights.

"What in the hell…" Delaney muttered before realizing all too quickly what was going on- someone had alerted the press that she was home. The old woman with the cell phone crossed Delaney's mind before a middle-aged man in a cheap suit shoved a microphone in front of her face.

"Delaney, where have you been training? Nobody's heard from you!" he asked.

"Delaney, are you planning to challenge Cynthia again?"

"Delaney, you look so-"

"Delaney-"

"Delaney!" His red cap was askew as he dropped to his knees to meet her at eye-level. "Delaney, are you injured?"

The blonde-haired trainer couldn't stop crying as she gestured to an unmoving lump a few feet ahead of her. A clump of feathers on the ground, normally an iridescent white, were tinged with a deep maroon.

Lucas took a deep breath. "Oh Arceus."

"Please help him!" Delaney choked out, sobs wracking her narrow shoulders. "Lucas, please help!"

"Get the hell off of my property!" Blake bellowed. Delaney hadn't realized that she had dropped to the ground until she realized Blake had to bend down to reach her. "Get away! What do you think you're doing? She's a teenage girl, leave her alone!"

"What's happening, Mr. Caldwell?" a female with a sharp blonde bob in a patterned tunic asked. "Is Delaney having some sort of flashback?"

"Do you know how many law enforcement agents are at my beck and call, Patricia King?" Blake growled at the blonde. "I would strongly advise you to get off my property immediately?" He placed his hand on Delaney's still shivering shoulder. "Del? Come on, sweetheart, let's go back to the house."

Delaney wasn't quite sure how she was able to get up, or how she was able to walk, even with the assistance of her father. Once they were safely in the door, Annette met them with wide, curious blue eyes. "Is there anything I can do, Mr. Caldwell?"

"Take her up to her room," Blake said. "I'll be up there soon." He had already pressed his cell phone to his ear as he strode back towards the library. Delaney thought she saw the faintest trace of moisture in his eyes, but she wasn't too sure of anything other than Annette's small, cold hand guiding her as she headed upstairs.

* * *

It was almost creepy how Delaney felt like she was stepping into a time capsule as she opened her bedroom door. Nothing had been touched since Delaney had left on her journey, save for some dusting. The light pink curtains swayed in the wind as somebody had apparently opened a window some time ago to air her room out. She could hear voices faintly from the outside, though her window was high up enough that she couldn't catch much more than a faint "this is channel nine…" from a stray reporter.

A tote bag had been placed on her vanity amongst make-up and hair products that Delaney hadn't used for over a year. Her tote bag, with all of the items from her journey and her pokemon that she hadn't seen in months. Annette noted where her gaze had fallen. "They're actually in one of your father's back offices. We've all taken turns letting them out to get some exercise. Would you like me to get any of your pokemon, Miss Caldwell? It would really be no prob-"

"Can you please just call me Delaney?" she interrupted Annette. "Miss Caldwell sounds really fucking pretentious."

"Um, sure," Annette said, flustered. "What about your-"

"I don't want to see them," Delaney said shortly.

Annette's eyes got even wider. "Oh, okay, Miss C- Delaney. That's not a problem. We don't need to uh, deal with that just yet. I mean, whenever you're ready, I'm ready. I mean-"

"I get it," Delaney said flatly. She wandered over to the vanity and picked up the bag. It felt lighter than she remembered. She unzipped the main pocket and looked inside, absentmindedly picking up a TM. She looked at it as if she wasn't sure quite what to do with it. "Technical Machine 27- Return" was written on it in her loopy handwriting, her attempt to keep organized while on the road. Delaney smiled sadly and put it back in the bag. It had been far too long since things like TMs were vital to her existence.

"Can I get you anything?" Annette asked anxiously. "Do you need something to eat, maybe? Water?"

"A glass of water would be great, thank you," Delaney said. She actually wasn't thirsty, but Annette looked like a lost growlithe puppy as she scurried around, trying to make sense of what was going on. The younger girl hurried out of her room. She was probably grateful to have even a couple minutes to run to the kitchen to get a glass of water- she definitely had to have gone to the kitchen, because it was the farthest room from Delaney's bedroom. Not like Delaney could blame her.

Delaney set the tote bag back down on the vanity, looking instead at the vast amount of hair and make-up products that were strewn about. As Delaney picked up a tube of mascara, Delaney frowned. It felt like a lifetime had passed since she was a trainer, but she could barely even remember a time when she had cared about something as stupid as how voluminous her eyelashes were. She had rarely ever bothered with make-up on the road- it was a miracle if she did something more with her hair than throw it up in a ponytail.

She set the mascara back down and then opened a drawer. Empty. She opened a second door only to find a pair of pearl earrings and a fake nose ring from an odd rebellious phase from her younger years. Delaney picked them both up, looking at them curiously. She had worn the nose ring for all of five minutes, and that lasted longer than most of the other relics of that age. She hadn't even dyed her hair dark like she had wanted because Blake had pitched a fit at the idea. Thank Arceus he had, Delaney would've looked horrible with black hair.

…Which was why she had sneakily purchased a deep brown color as a compromise, as Delaney was reminded as she opened up another drawer that contained a box of hair dye with a smiling brunette on the cover.

Delaney frowned at the girl on the box. Why was she smiling so wide? What in the hell was she so happy about? It was just hair dye. "You have a gap in your teeth anyways," Delaney grumbled at the girl on the box.

"What was that?" Annette asked, setting the glass of water next to the tote bag on the vanity.

Delaney looked from the smiling box girl to the wide-eyed young blonde girl in the plain black dress in front of her. She was no longer wearing the cheap black flats that had been ruined in Pastoria. Delaney looked at the box girl and her irritating smile again and sighed. "How good are you with hair dye?"

* * *

"What in the hell is on your head?" Blake asked as he opened the door. He had brought her the box with the note and the oshawott's pokéball up from the library and set it by the door.

Delaney blinked at him as Annette pushed a dye-soaked tendril away from her face. "Hair dye," she answered matter-of-factly.

"I assumed as much," Blake said dryly.

"Well then why did you ask?" Delaney asked.

"Don't be facetious," Blake sighed. "Where did you get it?"

"In my vanity drawer. I found it."

Blake winced. "Please tell me at least that it's not that awful blue-black color I forbid you from using years ago."

Delaney held up the box, making sure that the awful smiling girl was not facing her. "It's that color, which is definitely brown."

"Okay, here's another question: why?" Blake asked.

Delaney shrugged again. "I wanted to." She was quiet as Annette applied the mixture to the last piece of hair, barely missing her right ear. "Do you think they might leave me alone now? I mean, maybe they won't recognize me."

"Delaney, I'm always honest with you, so I'm going to say it now- no, they probably won't leave you alone. In fact, now they probably have some sort of idea that you've hit bottom and now they're really going to be relentless."

"Great," Delaney said dryly, sighing.

"That's kind of what I want to talk to you about now, Del," Blake began. "It relates to the conversation I just finished having."

"With who?" Delaney asked.

"I talked to your mother," Blake said, not quite meeting his daughter's eyes.

Delaney's eyes widened. "You talked to Lydia?! Of all fucking people!"

"Watch your mouth," Blake said automatically. "Yes, I talked to Lydia. Believe me, I'm not overly pleased about it either, but frankly, I didn't know what else to do. It's no secret that I'm very worried about you, Delaney. Maybe you are hitting some sort of bottom, I don't know, but I just don't know how to help you anymore."

"I'm not asking for your help," Delaney said, glaring at him. "And I really don't want it either. I want to be left alone."

"Del, please just hear me out," Blake said with a sigh. "Listen, she suggested something that seems like a pretty good idea right now.

"If you're going to say I should go stay with her in Unova…" Delaney began.

"That _is_ what I'm going to say," Blake said. "I don't want you to go, but I also know it's the best thing for you. Getting out of Sinnoh is what you need. Either they're going to tear you apart, or you're going to tear yourself apart. You need to leave."

"But why there?" Delaney muttered. Shame settled in behind her frown as she felt tears beginning to cloud her vision. "There are like, a million other places in the world. You can't tell me that out of everyone you know, there's nobody in like, Kanto or somewhere that I can stay with."

"Lydia is your mother and she wants to help, Delaney," Blake shrugged. "Maybe this is a good time to work through your issues with her and-"

"Arceus," Delaney interrupted exasperatedly. "This is not the right time to play therapist. Please just call and tell her I'm not going. There is no way I can deal with Lydia right now."

"Del, you're going to have to start dealing with some things," Blake said. "And Lydia is something you can deal with that has absolutely no ties to Sinnoh or Galactic or Marvel-"

"Please stop," Delaney said. Rage began to boil in the pit of her stomach. "Just stop, okay? You can't make me go. I'll just leave again, and I'll make sure this time you won't be able to find me." A tear slid down her cheek as she looked up at him, defiantly meeting his eyes. She ignored just how exasperated the gaze he gave her in return was.

"Delaney, it's the only logical solution left. Please think about it. Nobody will leave you alone as long as you're in Sinnoh, especially now that they've found you once," Blake implored. "You're not healthy right now, you just keep making things worse-"

"Delaney, we should rinse your hair out," Annette said, suddenly reappearing. Delaney wasn't even sure when she had left the room.

"Annette, if you could just give us a few minutes-" Blake began.

"If you leave hair dye in for too long, it can cause serious chemical burns on your scalp," the young blonde said firmly. "This will take just a moment."

Delaney got up from where she sat on the floor and followed Annette to the spacious bathroom, where she was waiting with the detachable shower head. Annette closed the door and put an old paint-smeared towel on the floor under the chair she had set up for Delaney. "Can hair dye really burn your scalp like that?" Delaney asked, wiping away a tear that had escaped on her trek to the bathroom.

Annette shrugged. "I have no clue. I just thought you might want to get out of there." She gestured to the chair. "Go ahead and sit down. I'll take as long as possible to do this."

"Thank you," Delaney said quietly.

"I'd give you a hug if I didn't think you were going to get that stuff all over me," Annette said, offering her a smile. "Come on, we better start the water at least so your dad doesn't realize I'm just helping you escape."

* * *

A rinse, conditioning treatment and a blow-dry and style later, Blake finally had enough of waiting to finish the conversation and knocked on the bathroom door. Annette and Delaney exchanged glances as Annette called "come in!".

Blake did a double-take at the brunette in the folding chair in front of the mirror. "If it wasn't for those eyes of yours, I would swear you were your mother almost twenty years ago."

Delaney cringed. "It's not a bad thing," Blake added quickly. "Lydia was lovely. She probably still is. And you're lovely, Delaney, you just… You look so different."

"That was the goal," Delaney said with a shrug. "You really don't think that this will throw them off?" Them being the vile reporters that were now certainly going to hang around her now that they knew where she was, of course. Blake did have a point there, even if he was otherwise completely crazy in thinking that going to Unova was a good idea.

Blake shook his head. "I don't think anything short of leaving will throw them off, Del."

"What if I get contacts?" she asked hopefully. "Like… blue ones. Or maybe green."

The look on Blake's face answered her question without the need for words. "Okay, so maybe not contacts. What about… a hat? What about… a cloak? Or a cape, like Lance the Dragon Master?"

"Del…" Blake said gently.

"How can Superman just take off his glasses and put on spandex and nobody knows who he is but yet there's nothing I can possibly do to change my appearance?" Delaney groaned. "This is such shit."

"Have you thought about what we talked about?" Blake asked. "Unova? They certainly wouldn't recognize you there with this hair. You could just stay in Nuvema Town with Lydia and nobody would be any wiser. There's a professor that lives down the road from her, I think, that she does some work for. Maybe you could get a job with her?"

"I don't think-" Delaney started.

"Or you could always train in Unova's gym circuit!" Blake interrupted. "I've heard great things about Unova's trainers. They seem quite a bit more socially responsible there. Their gym leaders actually work for a living, so much more respectable…"

"I'm not travelling again," Delaney said firmly. "No more journeying, no more badges, no more battling. No, no, absolutely not."

Blake was quiet for a minute. "So does that mean you'll go?"

Delaney groaned. "I didn't say that! I am not going. Arceus, just drop this!"

"You said you wouldn't travel, but you didn't say no to Unova," Blake pointed out, relentless in his newfound mission to get his daughter out of Sinnoh.

The look in his eyes was absolutely painful. It was almost pathetic to see "Mr. Backlot Businessman" giving her pleading growlithe puppy eyes and even worse, it made her inclined to agree with him after seeing him lower himself like that. He really had to be desperate, and the fact that he was so desperate made her sad.

He was just another casualty of The Incident, really. His life hadn't changed as drastically as her own had, but he knew people. He knew people in Pastoria, in Hearthrome, in Veilstone. He had dropped everything for months to try and help Delaney gain some sense of normalcy, and even though that was pretty much impossible at this point, it had been an honest effort. "Okay." Delaney muttered the word so quietly, one could barely tell the word was two syllables.

"What?" Blake asked pointedly.

"You know what I said," Delaney said with a roll of her eyes. "I said okay. I will go. I will not like it. I will not like her. But I will go."

"I'm not happy you're going either," he said. "I would rather you stay here where I can keep track of you. Make sure you're eating, make sure you're not just sitting around and dwelling on things… But you won't stay here and honestly, now that they know you're here, your staying here would be the worst thing for you. I want you to go because I think it will be good for you."

"Yeah, you said that already." Delaney ignored the pleading, the trying to make her happy with the decision. She was not going to be happy to be going to Unova no matter what Blake said. "When am I supposed to leave?"

"We're going to give it a few days, let the chaos surrounding this anniversary die down." Ugh, that was a thing still- 365 days since Galactic. No wonder they had been so bloodthirsty. "Then we're going to meet Palmer in Canalave. He has a friend who's making a trip to Castelia in Unova and we'll make the trip to Nuvema from there. Palmer's going to see if Dax would like to come with us too. Won't that be fun? You can see him one more time before you leave."

Delaney didn't cringe intentionally, but it still happened. She hadn't seen Dax in months and she could only imagine the reaming she would get from him about all of the missed phone calls and his reaction to her now brunette hair? Yikes. "Nothing about this is fun," she said bitterly.

"Well you know what is fun?" Blake said, tussling her newly brunette hair. "Ice cream. Ice cream is always fun and judging by how thin you are, you haven't had any in a long time. I know for a fact that we have some cherry vanilla in the freezer, so let's go have some."

Delaney almost looked up at him with disgust at how lightheartedly he was behaving, but as she met his eyes, the strain behind his violet eyes that were so like her own was so obvious that she just couldn't bring herself to scowl. "Cherry vanilla it is," she said with a sigh. She glanced over at Annette, who had been silently glancing over as she cleaned up from their hair dye adventure. "Annette, how do you feel about cherry vanilla?"

The blonde smiled brightly. "I quite enjoy cherry vanilla."

"Well you're welcome to join us, Annette," Blake said. "Come on ladies, ice cream awaits!"

Delaney and Annette exchanged looks as Blake made his way out of the bathroom and towards the kitchen. "Ice cream awaits," Annette repeated.

At least it was cherry vanilla.

* * *

**Author's Note (5/07/14): **Well, those of you who are used to me already know to expect delays based on the various other things going on in my personal life, so I'll leave that one alone. Thankfully, my last paper was due today and from here on, it's pretty smooth sailing, so yay! I have a lot of up to chapter 8 or 9 written already, so you can expect pretty regular updates from here on out. Thank you as always to those of you who take the time to read and especially to those of you who take the time to leave some sort of feedback.

And I would of course be insane if I didn't take the time to thank my wonderful, wonderful beta and friend, **Noteleks**.

And last but not least... OH MY GOD, THOSE R/S REMAKES. SO EXCITED. THERE ARE NO WORDS.

See you guys next week!:)


	3. there's nothing left for me here

"_Delaney Christa Caldwell, what in the actual hell is on your head? Please tell me that's a wig."_

"_It's great to see you too, Dax."_

"_Dax, watch yourself," Palmer warned as he walked in behind the wiry blonde boy._

"_Thank you for coming, Palmer," Blake said from behind Delaney. "I appreciate your help in this matter."_

"_Anything for you and Delaney," Palmer stated simply. "Patrick wants to leave extremely early tomorrow to hopefully beat out a storm, so we need to be in Canalave by four. Is this alright with you?"_

_Delaney cringed, but Blake spoke before Delaney even had the chance. "Whatever is necessary."_

* * *

Without opening her eyes, Delaney could imagine the room she was in. Bigger than the living room of some people's houses, it was adorned with various shades of pink, with a few accent pieces of turquoise thrown in for good measure. On one end of the room was a large closet that held outfits that were no longer worn and on the opposite end was a large shoe collection, also, for the most part, unworn. In the middle of the room, against the back wall, was a queen-sized bed where Delaney had crashed, long blonde hair strewn across down-filled pillows, crouched in the fetal position because despite the fact that her giant comforter was warm, the house was always an icebox and pretty much hugging herself was the only way she could fall asleep.

As she laid there, she became slowly became aware that this wasn't the case at all. She attempted to stretch one leg out, a leg that would've had plenty of room on her old queen-sized mattress, but it was hanging off the one that she was laying on. The blanket had been hastily thrown off in the middle of the night, the bedroom simply too hot to even consider using it. The pillows were flat, and the previous two mornings, when Delaney had seen brown hair resting by where her hand was laying on the pillow, she had screamed, forgetting that the hair was indeed her own.

Welcome to Nuvema.

Delaney was rather disappointed to be waking up, yet again, in the small room-while Delaney had dreaded going back to her father's after her time in Pastoria, it was infinitely better than being in Nuvema. Even her final days in Sinnoh, which were completely awkward and tense, not just between herself and her father, but with Dax, who had accompanied his father to 'see Delaney off', though all that had really gone on was some arguing, awkward silences and watching television with Palmer and Blake.

It also didn't help that she was certain bug-type pokemon were hanging out in the shadows, just waiting for her to let her guard down and then attack. Of course, her oshawott could always take them on, but they would still scare her half-to-death. There would definitely be tears. Definitely.

An irate Delaney climbed out of her bed, nearly stepping on Oshawott, who was sleeping on the side of her bed on top of a pile of old clothes (his choice, not Delaney's), in the process. She left the small room and entered the even smaller bathroom, where she barely even had room to turn around. She jumped a bit as she caught her sleep-rumpled reflection. The brown hair on top of her head would never cease to surprise her after being so blonde all of her life. After her daily morning battle, in which she debated with herself about actually having to wear the blue contacts or not, she reluctantly put them in, covering up her favorite feature.

She slipped out of the extremely large t-shirt she had slept in and threw on a pair of jean shorts and a white tank top. Lazily, she slipped her brunette locks into a high ponytail, not wanting to deal with having to style her hair for a bunch of people that frankly weren't worth it.

Christa White, as she was known here in Unova, well, she didn't look half bad… especially considering the day she had ahead of her.

And what did she have ahead of her? Not a damn thing.

Not that she had a ton to do in Sinnoh, considering she had spent months just hanging out in the Pastoria Pokemon Center, but at least that isolation was her own choice. What was there to even do in Nuvema? She had no desire to meet the resident professor of the town, partially because Lydia was pushing her daughter to, and she wasn't about to do something Lydia wanted her to do, and partially because she recognized the name from the strange letter and she wasn't at all eager to dig into the history of her oshawott. For all she knew, whoever had sent her the letter had stolen Oshawott from Professor Juniper and the professor would want her pokemon back upon seeing him. Seeing as how Oshawott was really all she had here in Nuvema, she didn't want to risk having to give him back, even though she had hardly spent any time with him at all.

Of course, the one time she had attempted going for a jog (inspired mainly by a drive to get out of that damn house), she had accidentally run into the middle of a pokemon battle between the only other people her own age that resided in the town. To make a long story short, Delaney was not eager to repeat the experience.

Not that they were bad- okay, maybe they were. The boy, whose name Delaney couldn't remember (maybe he hadn't even told her), had looked as smug as his weird green lizard pokemon, with black hair even straighter than her own hitting his chin and a pair of glasses sitting on the brim of his nose. His clothing was flawlessly pressed, starched to utter perfection. He had ignored Delaney for the most part, choosing to focus on the battle ahead of him instead, and then becoming irritated when the girl he was battling lost all interest in the battle.

His opponent, who Delaney learned through her incessant chattering was actually his childhood best friend, had bright, glittering green eyes, blonde hair and from what Delaney could tell, the energy level of a pachirisu eating candy. Delaney couldn't help but be reminded of Dax as the girl (Bianca, she said her name was) yammered on in a chipper fashion, but not the Dax she had come to regard as her best friend- the Dax that she met in Eterna City who had talked for fifty minutes straight before letting Delaney even introduce herself. That was the Dax that had driven Delaney insane.

To Delaney's relief, the black-haired boy seemed equally irritated and after about fifteen minutes, told Bianca to stop talking and finish up their battle. Delaney couldn't help but notice that merely moments later, he unceremoniously trumped her and her little orange pig, which Delaney was assuming was a fire-type, making the win even more impressive... Though not as impressive as it would've been if his opponent hadn't been a girl who was distracted by a leaf falling in front of her.

When it came down to it, when Delaney's choices were to go jogging and risk running into the pair again or to stay in her room and talk to Oshawott like she was absolutely crazy, she preferred being shut up inside. Because after all, there was a third alternative, but she would rather willingly go sit down and let Bianca chat her ear off than have to stoop to that level.

Option #3: Talk to Lydia. Ew.

After all, what were they supposed to do? Bake cookies and chit chat about how Lydia had totally abandoned her only daughter to live in this little wasteland of a town? No thank you. Delaney had managed to escape much conversation with the woman so far, which she was extremely grateful for. Lydia had asked if she wanted to meet Professor Juniper, and she had said no. She had asked if Delaney had met any friends, and she had said no. She had asked if Delaney had gone exploring outside of the town yet, and she had said no.

Though to be honest, whatever was outside the town's limits couldn't be as bad as what was inside of them.

Delaney grumpily stalked from the small bathroom back to the small bedroom, where Oshawott had woken up and was in a chipper mood. He had jumped from the pile of clothes where he had made a makeshift bed to Delaney's small, uncomfortable bed and was bouncing up and down. At least he knew how to amuse himself here- actually, he had just been in better spirits since they had arrived in Unova, confirming that this was definitely his original home. His high spirits were definitely a far cry from Delaney's sour mood, though currently Oshawott was the only thing cheering her up even remotely.

He stopped bouncing when Delaney walked in the room, sitting on the bed with a happy little smile on his face, pretty much forcing the irate girl to smile back at him. She plopped on the bed next to her pokemon and sighed. There was no doubt that Oshawott wasn't exactly fond of her, but they had reached some sort of understanding since moving to Unova. They both realized it was entirely possible that Oshawott was going to be Delaney's only friend in Unova, whether Oshawott liked it or not. Delaney looked over at the small pokemon and chuckled a bit to herself. "You can go back to jumping on the bed if you want," she told him. "I really don't mind. There's not much you could do to make it more uncomfortable. Maybe if you break it, Lydia will break down and buy a new one." Which would be the highlight of her stay here, actually. Then it would be more than possible to actually stay in this room at all times. The Oshawott was more than happy to listen and resumed its bouncing, a grin breaking out on his face again.

She was so focused on Oshawott and her idea of the small pokemon breaking her bed so that she could get a new one that she almost didn't notice when a crimson pokemon crawled out from under the bed slowly, it's large yellow eyes narrowed, angry that something was disturbing it's sleep by jumping on the bed. "Didn't I promise you a nickname, Oshawott?" Delaney said, blissfully unaware of what was about to go down. "I think I told you that at some point, right? And I guess every good trainer gives their pokemon a nickname. How about... Oshy? No, you might evolve one day and if your new name doesn't have 'osh' in there somewhere, it's going to sound pretty stupid. This nicknaming thing is harder than I remember." She paused, stuck in her thoughts for a moment. She racked her brain for possible names. "Water names are so cliché," she thought out loud. "How about... Perry?" A random name, but nonetheless, it kind of worked for the small Pokemon, and it wasn't dependent on the name Oshawott or its type, which was good for Delaney considering she knew nothing about the oshawott evolution line, nor if it gained a type upon evolution or any of that weird stuff. "I like Perry, do you like Perry?" she asked Oshawott. It hopped off her pillow and flew through the air... And off the bed. Perry landed with a crunch and Delaney hopped off her bed quickly, worried that the Oshawott had somehow hurt itself.

Perry was fine, but what it had landed on was not. The magenta bug was pissed, even more pissed than it had been and ready to attack. Delaney screamed. Her fear of bug pokemon in this room had been realized and the fact that she knew it (she knew it!)did not make this any better. It opened its mouth, showing off its fangs. "Oh crap," Delaney muttered. This was worse than she had imagined. "Um, Perry, I don't know what attacks you have or anything, but anything can tackle, right? Yeah, most first-stage Pokemon get tackle or scratch, but it doesn't look like you have claws, so we'll go with tackle. You just have to kind of slam into something? Do that." The unruffled oshawott looked back at his trainer, confused to her obvious anxiety, but nonetheless followed her orders, slamming it's small blue body into the bug, who, though mostly uninjured, seemed slightly offended that the water-type would dare attack it.

Delaney's bedroom door flung open, revealing a tall, thin woman with brown hair and blue eyes almost identical to the color contacts Delaney had picked out in a salmon colored t-shirt and jeans with an alarmed look on her face, which went away almost immediately upon a quick analysis of the situation. "Vinny, that's where you've been hiding!" she said with a sigh, shuffling across the room and grabbing the small bug, which had become quite docile since her entry into the room. "What have I told you about hiding out in the bedrooms?" Lydia scolded gently, placing a kiss upon his disgusting little head. Delaney looked at her incredulously.

"That's yours?" she asked, a lot more shrilly than she had originally intended. "You have a bug pokemon?" Not that Lydia had been high on Delaney's good list anyways, but she had definitely lost cool points for this one.

"Somebody left him with Professor Juniper a couple years ago, and when her lab started to get too full, she tried to send him back but he wouldn't take it. He told her to just give it away. Neither Cheren nor Bianca wanted it, so she asked if I did. It was a bit lonely here by myself so I figured I might as well. I haven't been able to find him for a few days. I was worried that a pidove or a woobat may have gotten him, but I guess he's been hiding out in here," Lydia explained, gently stroking the magenta bug like it was some sort of glameow or something.

If Delaney were in a better mood, the fact that Lydia had taken in an unwanted pokemon may have made her at least respect her a little bit more. Unfortunately for Lydia, Delaney was already grumpy and she didn't like bug pokemon very much (and of the ones she did like, scary little red ones that hid under her bed were not among them). "Please try to keep it out of here," she muttered and with that, she flopped back down on the uncomfortable twin mattress, ready to spend another day avoiding Lydia, as well as the rest of the citizens of Nuvema Town.

"Is that an oshawott?" Lydia asked, an air of puzzlement unmistakable in her voice. "I didn't realize they had them in Sinnoh."

Of course they didn't. Delaney knew that, and Lydia knew that. This was all Lydia just trying to get Delaney to open up, and Delaney could see that without even having to look at her. "He's from Unova, you know there are no oshawott in Sinnoh," she said, sitting up and looking at the woman. "I got him from a friend." Well, she hoped it was a friend. "His name is Perry."

To Delaney's absolute shock and irritation, Perry hobbled over to Lydia and looked up at her with a big smile. Did the oshawott just like everybody better than his own trainer or something? Delaney was the only one so far not to get a smile upon introduction. "Hello there Perry," Lydia said to the small water-type pokemon with a smile. "I didn't realize you were staying here too. I'm Delaney's mother, Lydia."

"In theory," Delaney muttered under her breath, quickly growing more and more irate. The words didn't escape Lydia's ears and she frowned, taking a step back as if Delaney was about to hit her. "I guess Vinny and I will be downstairs," she said, offering the teenager a small smile. "Do you feel like having lunch? You haven't had much to eat since you've been here."

"No," Delaney responded, lying back down again. Without any further words, Lydia walked out the door and headed back downstairs, the devil bug in her arms. The brunette girl stayed completely still on her bed, her thoughts wandering to every subject imaginable. Eventually, she felt herself drifting away to sleep (despite the fact that she had only been awake for about a half hour) but as soon as she had almost successfully drifted back to sleep, she heard the front door loudly shut, stirring her from her state of (almost) sleep.

"Sorry to bug you, Ms. White." The blonde girl from a couple days before, Bianca, was the one speaking and Delaney panicked a bit, knowing that Lydia was probably going to come up and introduce her to the two without realizing that Delaney had already met them. "Professor Juniper told us that you may have a spare map or two from your traveling days, and we were wondering if we could borrow them."

"I actually have three," Delaney could hear Lydia say with a chuckle in her voice. "You tell people that you're about to leave on a journey and they all assume you're going to get lost in the wilderness, so you end up getting more maps than you'll ever need. I used to have more, but the rest were either lost or ruined." She paused. "Are you two finally leaving for your journeys?"

"Yes!" squealed Bianca. "Me and Tepig are finally going to go out into the world! I've been trying to convince my dad to let me go for weeks, but since tepig is getting a bit stronger, he's finally stopped saying no… Well, more like my mom has finally stopped him from saying no."

"Tepig and I," somebody corrected her. The boy from the battle, obviously, the one with the green lizard thing. "Not me and Tepig, Tepig and I."

"Cheren, stop being so boring," Bianca said lightly. "Who cares about grammar right now? This is one of the most important days of our lives!"

Lydia chuckled. "I wish I could talk Christa into going with you two. She's been so bored here."

"Is that the new girl? I thought you two looked alike!" Bianca chirped. "We met her the other day. She's very quiet."

"I didn't realize she was a trainer," the boy (who Delaney was now assuming was Cheren) cut in before Lydia could answer. "She didn't have any pokemon with her when we saw her."

"She only has an oshawott right now," Lydia answered. "But she's a good trainer. I know she would like traveling in Unova if only I could convince her to go. She did some traveling when she lived with her dad, but for some reason, she refuses to go now."

"Maybe she could come with us!" Bianca said excitedly. Without even seeing her, Delaney could practically see the wheels turning in her head... And Lydia's. Oh please, Arceus, no. Enough of her choices lately had been made for her. The last thing she needed was for Lydia to decide that Bianca's idea was the best she had ever heard.

"That's hardly a good idea, Bianca," Cheren said. Despite the fact that she agreed with him (seriously, what a horrible idea), Delaney was slightly offended at his tone. What gave him the right to not like her? He had completely ignored her the one time they had met. "She seemed to like to be alone."

"Well Cheren, maybe if we became her friends, she would like people more. It must be lonely to be in a new town where you don't know anybody," Bianca argued, as if she really wanted Delaney to accompany them.

"I think Christa needs to do things at her own pace," Lydia jumped in. "Maybe one day she'll be ready to leave, but I don't think she can handle it right now. She needs to get used to Unova first."

"I don't think she can handle it?" _How dare she?_

Delaney was fuming. "I don't think she can handle it?" She could handle defeating Team Galactic, facing the Elite Four of Sinnoh and being forced to move to a wasteland of a town with a mother that you could hardly consider a mother, but she couldn't handle a damn pokemon journey? _Way to prove that you know nothing about your own daughter, Lydia._

Despite the fact that stomping downstairs would just prove that she had been eavesdropping, which was pretty rude, that was exactly what Delaney did after putting Perry into a pokeball and grabbing her old pink bag from her days of traveling in Sinnoh, which had been half-mindedly thrown into one of her few boxes (Dax had packed it, she was guessing). With her prized sneakers on her feet, Delaney looked the part of a trainer again, even if she didn't feel it.

Lydia, Cheren and Bianca all did a double-take as Delaney came barreling down the stairs with a look of rage across her face. Her destination was the door.

Seriously, how dare she?

"Christa, what are you doing?" Lydia asked, puzzled.

She spun around. "I'm going on a pokemon journey," she said defiantly. "Even though you don't think I'm capable of it. You obviously know nothing about me." Cheren and Bianca definitely didn't, so both were staring at her like she had gone absolutely mad. She moved her gaze to Cheren. "And I didn't want to travel with you guys anyways."

She stomped past them and swung the door open and before she knew it, she was running across the center of the town, passing houses of people she didn't know or care about, passing what was obviously Professor Juniper's lab (which she also cared nothing about) and then suddenly she was out on route 1. She still didn't have a pokedex, and she knew nothing about the pokemon of Unova. She didn't have a map or a clue where she was going. She had some money, and some supplies, but not enough to last a terribly long time. She hadn't grabbed another set of clothes in her haste. All she had was herself and Perry, and enough supplies to keep them safe for at least a couple days.

And then it hit her. Despite all of her protests of the last six months, despite the fact that she wasn't particularly keen on battling anymore and despite the fact that she really didn't want to be in Unova, she was traveling once again.

"Fuck, I don't want to do this," she muttered to herself, but after letting her anger get the best of her and making a scene like some immature novice, she couldn't just go back. And if she did that, she ran the risk of Cheren and Bianca getting ahead of her and that was not an option. "Damn."

What other choice did she have? She headed to the north, hoping to Arceus that she wouldn't get lost in the wilderness and that she would make it to a town by the evening. She really didn't want to have to camp, and she didn't bring any camping supplies anyways. "Here we go," she said under her breath and with great hesitation, she took her first step into the grass.

* * *

Fact: Unova nights are nothing like Sinnoh nights.

Back in the days of before Team Galactic had been a threat, Delaney Caldwell had simply been a trainer, a naive fifteen year old girl with wide violet eyes and long platinum blonde hair, eagerly challenging gyms with a mischievous chimchar and a competitive shinx who sulked when he lost a battle. She had cried when she got her first badge out of sheer excitement. She had also cried the first time she had been forced to camp outside, because most parts of Sinnoh were pretty cold at night and she hadn't known how to set up a tent. Even after she had learned to wear layers at night, she hadn't gotten into the idea and eventually she began flying back home most nights, considering how close many cities in Sinnoh were. Besides, Marvel loved journeys and he was excited to go out flying for a couple hours each day.

Right about now, Delaney was missing the old days, mainly because she wouldn't have minded flying back to her father's house in Sinnoh on her togekiss right about now. After getting lost twice (which, considering how small of a route connected Nuvema and Accumula, was a bit impressive), an exhausted sixteen year old brunette with twigs in her hair from her (mis)adventures of the day rolled into Accumula Town a little bit before sunset. A peaceful small town, it was certainly strange for its size, with most of its citizens sporting what looked like medieval knight costumes, completely with shields marked with a turquoise P.

Meh, maybe it was a festival of some sort.

Delaney's first destination was, naturally, the Pokemon Center. She was surprised to note many differences from the centers of Sinnoh, most notably the fact that their Pokemon Centers and Poke Marts were combined to make one super building for trainers. It also looked like it had more space for lodging, which Delaney was happy to see, as she could remember a couple instances in Sinnoh where there had been no rooms available and she had been forced to stay in one of the local motels or hotels, which didn't cater to teenage trainers like the Pokemon Centers did, many of the inhabitants being more than a little sketchy. At this rate though, Delaney would have been grateful for one of those motels though. No camping equipment meant that staying outside would have been an absolute nightmare.

Forcing a smile on her face, Delaney greeted the nurse on duty and asked for a room for the night. "Of course!" said the chipper nurse with a smile. "Can I see your trainer registration? Or do you need to fill that out?"

Naturally she had one, but presenting her trainer card with a clear picture of notorious blonde-haired trainer Delaney Caldwell was probably not a good idea in this situation. Instead Delaney shook her head and said, "I don't have one yet. Today's the first day of my journey," with an oddly-high pitched voice. Despite the fact that she was nearly seventeen, she definitely sounded like she was twelve.

"Well congratulations, sweetie!" The blonde nurse handed her a clipboard with a couple of forms on it. "Can I see your pokemon to heal it while you fill that out?"

"Oh, yes, please!" Delaney said, reaching in her pink shoulder bag for Perry's pokéball. He didn't really need to be healed, seeing as how Delaney hadn't used him to battle, well, ever, but it couldn't hurt to let the nurse take him. She handed the ball over and took a seat in the lobby with her clipboard.

_Name._ Well, that was easy enough... for most people. With a small grimace, Delaney filled in the name Christa White. Her middle name and her mother's maiden name. It was her Unova moniker, which she hated, but she had to get used to.

_Age and birth date._ 16, as of February 3rd. She had turned sixteen soon after collecting her third badge in Sinnoh. She had celebrated with Dax. She hadn't intended to, but after the nurse-on-duty in the Pokemon Center had wished her a happy birthday after checking her trainer card, the excitable blonde boy had insisted that the two go binge on desserts and talk. That was the night that Delaney had realized that he was thankfully a lot less annoying than she had originally thought.

She would be seventeen in less than six months. Funny how things had changed.

_Pokemon._ Back when she had been training to fight Team Galactic, this section on her card had been pretty impressive. Blitzkrieg, her infernape and her closest pokemon companion, the little fireball that had dominated most opponents through a combination of strength and creativity to overcome his weaknesses- he had always had the first spot in her line-up. Samuel had been the first pokemon she had caught, a competitive shinx who had become a major perfectionist upon evolving into a luxray. Hazel, her matronly pink gastrodon, had become a force to reckon with by the end of Delaney's journey. There was the uncharacteristically fierce clefable, Serena, and the jolly abomasnow, Grover… and there was Marvel, who had once been a curious egg who had evolved into a togekiss that loved to fly the skies of Sinnoh.

Delaney felt a lump forming in her throat. Did she ever miss them. Now, instead of writing in their names, she only wrote one. Oshawott. Male. Nickname: Perry.

She left _trainer classification_ blank. She wasn't quite sure what kind of trainer she was anymore. And with that, she got up from her seat and returned to the counter, where the nurse was waiting with Perry, who was quite confused as to where they were and what they were doing there. Delaney couldn't explain it very well, as they were both questions she only knew bits of each answer to. As the nurse went to create a trainer card for her, Delaney and Perry took a seat in the lobby again, and the brunette watched the trainers coming in and out of the Pokemon Center with fascination. The idea that Cheren or Bianca were more likely than not to make an appearance by the end of the night stuck in her mind as well, something she hoped wouldn't happen.

"Christa?" a pleasant soprano voice rang out. Delaney looked from trainer to trainer for a couple of moments before she remembered that Christa was indeed her. She hopped up from her seat, Perry following suit, and walked back to the counter again, where the chipper nurse was standing with a small laminated square in her hand. "Here's your trainer card. And you said you needed a room for the night, correct? Let me go grab you a room key from the back."

The small grin that spread upon Delaney's face upon getting that small laminated square from the nurse was really quite stupid, considering this journey was a sham compared to her previous travels in Sinnoh. However, it made the idea that Christa wouldn't be going back to Nuvema Town a solid one and that was enough to make this moment at least a little awesome. She glanced down at Perry with a grin on her face. The oshawott was still a little confused, but he would figure everything out soon enough.

The nurse returned a moment later with a brass key on a blue wristband in her right hand. She passed it on to Delaney. "Room 201!" she informed her. "It's on the next level. Our cafeteria on this level is open until nine, and there are a few restaurants in town that you can visit as well. If you have any more questions, please let me know. Otherwise, have a nice night!" Another trainer entered the Pokemon Center then, a girl with bright green hair who nudged Delaney hard, getting the girl out of her way in order to catch the nurse's attention. "Hi, can I help you?"

Delaney took that as her cue to leave. "What do you think, Perry?" she asked the Oshawott as they walked away from the counter. "Should we head to the cafeteria here or find one of the restaurants around town?"

"Wott!" Perry proclaimed and began toddling towards the automatic doors of the Pokemon Center.

Delaney chuckled. "I guess we're going to go exploring then!" And with that, the two headed out the doors. Delaney's eyes scanned the small town, looking for anything resembling a restaurant. Instead of a place to get food though, Delaney's eyes found a giant gathering in the center of the town. The curious brunette picked up her oshawott so that he wouldn't be trampled in the crowd and headed to where what seemed like the bulk majority of the town was standing.

The members of the crowd weren't wearing the silly medieval costumes that the people she had seen upon entering town had been wearing, so Delaney assumed that they had changed out of their outfits. Maybe this place wasn't totally backwards after all.

The people in front of them were still dressed like rejects of a renaissance fair, though, and the one taking center stage was wearing what looked like a blanket (an odd blanket at that, with two giant eyeballs on it) with sleeves and an eyepiece. His long mint-green hair cascaded down his back in waves and a smirk resided on his face. He was one of the oddest looking men Delaney had ever seen.

Ooh, maybe these were street performers.

That was the most logical answer, or at least to Delaney. In the summertime, the streets of Hearthrome had been full of them. Jugglers, contortionists, palm readers, dancers... Of course, it was September now, and summer merriment had long since died down, but seeing as how Unova was quite a bit warmer than Sinnoh had been, it was entirely possible to still participate in fun activities outside. Maybe it was some sort of autumn festival?

The man in the blanket stood regally in front of the crowd and cleared his throat. Almost immediately, the chattering of the crowd ceased, all eyes on the odd man. Perry climbed on to Delaney's shoulders. Even the oshawott desired a better look at what was going on. "My name is Ghetsis," he began. Ghetsis? What kind of name was that? It made sense, though- the man was definitely too odd to rock a moniker like Steve, or George. "I am here representing Team Plasma."

Oh no.

Team Plasma could just be a clever name for a traveling theater troupe, right? Right? That was what Delaney was trying to convince herself at least. The bizarrely dressed man paid no attention to the sickened girl in the crowd, instead reveling in the spotlight. "Today, ladies and gentleman, I'd like to talk to you about pokemon liberation."

"What?" she heard somebody ask sharply.

"What is this freak talking about?" asked another, deeper voice. Delaney glanced around the crowd, trying to gauge their reactions. She caught the eye of a boy with the long tea-green hair and piercing green eyes that, for some reason, unnerved her. She looked away, her gaze returning to the man on stage.

"I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and Pokemon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other. However..." He paused for dramatic emphasis. "Is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that we humans only assume this is the truth?"

A small girl in the crowd looked defiantly around her. "It is the truth. I love my Pup. We're partners," she said to anyone that would listen to her. Ghetsis heard her and chuckled.

"Pokemon are subject to the selfish commands of trainers. They get pushed around when they are our 'partners' at work," he said, addressing the child directly. Delaney thought of Marvel with a pang in her chest. He had certainly gotten 'pushed around' as being a part of her team. "Can anybody say with confidence there is no truth to what I'm saying?"

The entire crowd was silent.

The smirk on his face grew. "Now ladies and gentlemen, pokemon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we humans have a lot to learn. Tell me, what is our responsibility toward these wonderful beings called pokemon?"

In truth, his speech was not bad. The idea that pokemon were pushed around too hard was not a new one. It was a truth that all trainers had to embrace at some point, but they could choose not to battle. Pokemon trained, they fought, they desired to become stronger because they wanted to. It was a trainer's responsibility to tap into that potential the best they could. It was also a trainer's responsibility to nurture, care for and ultimately respect their pokemon like they would a human being. Or at least that was what Delaney thought, but this wasn't her speech.

"We must liberate the pokemon!" he declared in a booming voice. "Then, and only then, will humans and pokemon be truly equals! Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and pokemon... and the correct way to proceed. We sincerely appreciate your attention."

"We should release our pokemon?" a panicked young boy cried out. "But I just got my cottonee yesterday!"

"No," a man, presumably his father, said absentmindedly. "Just another band of weirdos who haven't been hit by reality yet."

"Do you think he's right?" a middle-aged woman asked the people surrounding her. Nobody answered her; the group was beginning to disperse and head back to their homes. Only Delaney, still trying to process what had just happened, and the green-haired boy whom she had seen in the crowd, remained standing there before long.

"A crock of shit," muttered an old man to her left, slowly wandering away.

There was something not right about this.

The look in that man's eyes. She had seen the same look in the eyes of another, and only one other- Cyrus. Not that he had been downright hostile or acted crazy like the leader of Team Galactic had, but what he was doing, it had an edge of manipulation to it. Delaney seriously doubted that his motives were as pure as simply releasing pokemon so they wouldn't get hurt.

"Your pokemon says interesting things." Delaney was surprised out of her thoughts by the other trainer that had stayed behind. Now that the crowd was gone, Delaney took a closer look at him. He was tall and gangly, one of the tallest people she had seen(but then again, as a short person, she was a bit impartial when it came to tall people). Fading brown corduroy pants covered his long legs (Delaney had never before been so jealous of a guy's legs) and a white button-down shirt dressed his upper body. Unlike the man on stage, Ghetsis, this boy's hair wasn't down (though it was the same odd shade of mint green)- it was thrown messily into a ponytail. A black and white hat adorned his head, and an odd geometric necklace topped off the outfit.

In all honesty, she hadn't even realized she wasn't alone. She had even forgotten that her confused oshawott was resting on her shoulders. "Pardon?" she asked, confused. Was he talking about Perry? He thought Perry had said something to him? How silly- Perry hadn't cried out even remotely. He was just as silent as his trainer.

The boy's face fell. "Oh, you can't hear it either," he stated. "How sad. My name is N."

N? What kind of name was that? That wasn't a name, it was a letter. Maybe it was like how some boys with J names just called themselves Jay. It was probably short for something like Nathan or... some other N name. "I'm D...efinitely not hearing what you're hearing," she said quickly, catching herself before she introduced herself as Delaney. Delaney Caldwell wasn't supposed to be in Unova- as far as anybody in Sinnoh (or anybody else for that matter) knew, she was still privately training. "I'm Christa," she told him with a small smile. She attempted to meet his gaze, but found it too unnerving. His green eyes were oddly piercing.

"You're a trainer," he said almost accusingly, shifting his attention to Perry on her shoulders. "I'm a trainer, too, but I can't help wondering... Are pokemon really happy that way?"

"So you believe what that guy was saying," Delaney interpreted. "If you think pokemon would be better liberated, why do you have them?"

"I catch them to make friends with them," N stated, the tone of his voice raising ever so slightly. Great, Delaney had offended the first person she had conversed with in the region of Unova. "You don't think that pokemon liberation is a good idea?"

"I don't know, but I don't think I should be taking advice from a guy wearing a blanket," Delaney joked. When N didn't laugh, she felt a blush creeping into her cheeks. So she had offended him, and now he probably thought she was stupid. Her track record for making friends in this place was just stupendous.

Instead of looking angry though, N looked thoughtful. "Christa, did you say it was?" The brunette merely nodded, wondering if he was going to yell at her. "I'd like to hear your Pokemon's voice again." Well, he was polite, if nothing else. And with that, he pulled a Poke Ball off of his belt and enlarged it.

Oh, he wanted to _battle._

* * *

**Author's Note:** My apologies on the delay for chapter 3- originally I had another chapter written and each time I came back to it, I liked it less, so I decided to drop it and just get Delaney to Unova already. I know there's a lot going on in this chapter (from the original, it's basically chapter 4 and about half of chapter 5) but since I'll be adding and taking away things from the original, hopefully it will be balancing out.

I am officially out of school and I've been working on this like a mad (wo)man, so rest assured that chapter 4 won't take nearly as long- in fact, 4 and 5 are already in the hands of my absolutely wonderful and amazing beta, so you'll get an update fairly soon. My aim is to update on Tuesdays, though the next one will probably be Thursday, since I'm so late updating this week.

So many millions of thank yous to all of you who take the time to read this, and especially to those of you who take the time to provide any sort of feedback for me. I am forever trying to make this story the best it can be, so all notes and comments are welcome. :) And always, a huge thanks to my beta and friend, **Noteleks**, without whom, I would be spinning my wheels constantly.

See you all next week!


	4. you were a hard-faced kid

"Perry!" Delaney cried as the oshawott collapsed. The purrloin was too fast for the sea otter pokemon to keep up with, something Delaney had realized too late. "Are you okay?" The oshawott lifted his head and nodded in an attempt to calm down his trainer, but still ultimately couldn't get up. Delaney reached for his pokéball on her belt and recalled him. She reached into her pocket to grab money for N, but the green-haired trainer was already walking away. Delaney ran, reaching her opponent in only a few strides. "Wait, N! I owe you money! If you'll just wait a minute..."

He looked surprised that she had bothered to run after him. "It's not necessary, Christa. Was that your first battle?"

"With Oshawott, yes," she answered, and then realized what she had said. Delaney Caldwell was no stranger to battles, but Christa White was. "I mean, yes. It was."

"Then consider it practice," he said simply. "I hope to see you again." And with that, he strode off easily, the prize money he had rightfully earned still in Delaney's pocket.

He was an odd one, that N.

Disappointed at losing her first battle in Unova, Delaney began to head back to the Pokemon Center for the night. She fully planned on leaving Perry with whatever nurse was on duty for the night and grabbing a small bite to eat in the cafeteria, if it was even still open. Then she would head on up to her room for a well-deserved sleep. After all, it had been a long, crazy day.

* * *

It was still somewhat dark when Delaney woke up in yet another bed in yet another room. This one was a little bit bigger than the one in Nuvema Town, though the sheets were a little bit scratchy and the blanket a little too thin. Delaney couldn't say she cared, though- it wasn't Nuvema Town and that was truly all that mattered at the moment. There was still not enough room for Perry, so the oshawott was curled up in the small armchair next to the door. He wasn't nearly awake as his trainer, who had sprung out of bed with renewed zeal, despite how early it was. Surely everyone else in the center was still sleeping, except maybe the perpetually peppy nurse.

A glimpse at the clock didn't deter Delaney though. "Perry! Wake up!" she said in a sing-song voice. She grabbed her running shoes, ignoring as always the fact that the laces were badly fraying and the rubber on the outside of the shoe was beginning to peel off, and began to put them on. From his spot on the armchair, Perry lazily opened one eye and looked at the brunette as if she had gone insane. "We're going training!" she told him as she tied the left shoe. "I'm sure most other trainers are still asleep, so that gives you time to spar with some of the wild pokemon."

The oshawott still didn't move, other than to close the one eye he had opened. "Seriously, Perry, wake up. If we're going to do this whole journey thing, we're going to need to train. It was stupid of me to keep you from battling. I'm sure with a little more experience, you would've won yesterday." She stood up and grabbed her trainer bag from the nightstand. "You're not going to lose again though! Delaney Caldwell does not lose…" The brunette paused and thought for a moment. "And neither does Christa White."

She reached inside of her bag and grabbed Perry's pokéball. "I guess you can sleep inside of here for a little while longer until we get to the next route," she muttered, recalling the water pokemon. Wherever that was. It certainly was going to be interesting trying to find her way to the next city when she had absolutely no semblance of where she was going. Still doing her best to not look in any mirrors, Delaney did a last quick glance around the room, making sure she hadn't left any of her few possessions behind. At this point, everything she had was crucial to her journey.

The nurse on duty informed Delaney that she wanted to go north. The path to Striaton was fairly simple, she had said. Considering the fact that Delaney had somehow gotten lost in the simple route that connected Nuvema and Accumula, though, she took the woman's word with a grain of salt. Fairly easy usually meant the exact opposite for someone as directionally challenged as Delaney. Despite the brunette's hesitation, she headed off in the direction that the nurse had told her to go.

She felt more than a little triumphant when she reached a guard house, where the guard on duty was far less awake than Delaney herself. Their bright electronic marquees and large screen TVs made the small building far more interesting than any guard house Delaney had seen in Sinnoh. She passed through with a smile to the man on duty, though she only got a sleepy nod in return.

And then? Bam, wilderness.

The early morning air was slightly chilly in autumn, though Delaney wasn't sure if that was what was giving her goosebumps. There wasn't a single other person in sight, and even the wild pokemon were few and far between. She took a few steps forward, the grass rustling under her feet. She looked around eagerly, though she wasn't totally sure what she was looking for. Maybe one of those cats that the boy yesterday had used… Purrloin?

But alas, there was nothing.

Of course, it was just like in Sinnoh- whenever she was looking for pokemon or actually wanted to battle, she could find no opponent, but when she was in a hurry or just didn't feel like battling, she was swarmed. She reached in her bag and pulled out Perry's pokeball and then pushed the button to release him. Within a few seconds, the oshawott was standing in front of her, yawning. He glanced around lazily for an opponent and, upon finding no one, gave Delaney a confused look. "I thought you might want to help me look for some pokemon to battle," she explained.

Perry looked up at her and blinked twice. Apparently with that last statement, she had confirmed her status as 'crazy'. She wandered further into the grass, mentally pleading for any (yes, any) pokemon to come out so that Perry could battle. Not only could Perry defend them both upon gaining strength, but it would be good for them to work as a team and bond or whatever- Perry still wasn't exactly her biggest fan.

A rustling in the grass.

Delaney turned her head quickly, but the only thing behind her was Perry, who was still giving her that damn look. "I don't see anything, do you, Perry?"

"I really hope you're not waiting for an answer," a snarky voice rang out. Delaney's eyes widened as a girl with short neon green hair stepped out from behind a tree. She looked oddly familiar to the brunette. "I thought you were scared." As she came closer, Delaney realized that despite the fact that she was a couple inches taller than the girl, she was rather intimidated- maybe it was her harsh red eyes and perpetual scowl. She was wearing a pink spaghetti strap tank top with ruffles on the bust, pink shorts and brown strappy sandals, but Delaney could tell that this was no girly girl that could be taken lightly.

"How long have you been here?" Delaney asked, frowning slightly. Had she been watching Delaney? Had she just appeared? All she had heard was one rustle in the grass. She couldn't have been there too long… right?

"Long enough to hear you babbling," the girl said with a roll of her eyes.

Delaney had never been one to be outright mean to people she didn't know. She really didn't like conversing with strangers at all, actually- trying to figure out what to say to people she didn't know gave her anxiety. Instead of responding with the same attitude she was being given, Delaney opted to be friendly instead. Kill them with kindness, right? "I'm Christa," she said with a smile, sticking her hand out to shake the girl's. The girl raised her eyebrows and just stared at Delaney's hand until it was clear she was not going to get a handshake and a greeting. Delaney returned her hand to its place by her side. "Are you a trainer as well?"

"You could say that," the girl responded with a slight smirk. "Why, you wanna battle? I'm pretty sure you're gonna lose, but I'll still give you the pleasure of battling my pokemon… As long as you don't cry. I hate kids that get whiny when they lose."

Shit. She was probably right. They still hadn't battled another pokemon since that N guy. Still, if by some chance Perry did win, there would be some experience for them to go off of and maybe Perry would be the teensiest bit happier after getting to experience success.

Or you know, this angry-looking girl could let out Cresselia or some shit like that. It would be just Delaney's luck.

"I would love to battle you," Delaney said with the most pleasant smile she could muster, despite the fact that really, she didn't. She hated battling when she didn't know for sure she could win, always had.

Or had she really? The post-Galactic Delaney had developed that attitude, yes, but back in the day, she had been a platinum-haired novice who had battled anyone and everyone she could. Those were the days- back when traveling had been fun and the world hadn't yet been placed on her shoulders. Maybe now that she was journeying again, she needed to take a page out of Delaney Caldwell's book and find the joy in training and battling again.

Or you know, just deal with it and continue with this sham of a journey because she had to.

Or maybe both. Regardless, she had to battle this girl, here and now, all major life and attitude decisions pending. The hostile-looking girl with fiery red eyes was looking at her like she had gone nuts. She tapped her foot impatiently. "I don't have all day. Are we gonna battle or what?"

Without Delaney so much as noticing, her opponent had released a small tan pokemon, a puppy with shaggy hair and bright, happy eyes. Though Delaney wasn't sure what it was called, she had seen them while en route to Accumula Town. She had avoided them then, and she could kick herself for that now- if she had battled then, she would know what she was up against now. Oh, and she probably could've beaten that weird N kid as well.

Damn. Avoidance did not pay off in Unova.

Oh well, at least the girl hadn't had her pokemon begin the fight while Delaney was spacing out. Delaney grinned at Perry, who also probably thought his trainer had lost her mind sometime between the previous night and the current morning, between waking up so early, her random rambling and now her space cadet persona. "Okay, Perry, you ready? Let's win this!"

"Yeah, you try that," the girl snarkily replied with a roll of her eyes. "Lilly, let's start this off right with a solid tackle!"

Delaney smirked, momentarily forgetting that in Unova, she was a novice trainer with a battle record of 0-1. "Dodge that puppy, Perry!" she yelled cheerfully. Unfortunately, though, the energetic pokemon was quite a bit faster than Perry and the small otter was unable to dodge the tackle, which seemed to hit quite hard.

Yeah, it was time to rethink how she was doing things.

"So speed isn't your strong suit, Perry…" she muttered to herself. The oshawott looked at her with an absolute duh look, as if to say,you think? "Well, if you can't hit them fast, hit them hard, right? Perry, you tackle that dog thing back!"

"Dog thing?" the girl repeated with a raised eyebrow. "You mean lillipup? Either you're dumber than I thought or you're not from around here."

Delaney ignored the girl. Agreeing to either of those things could lead to bad things for Christa White. Instead of getting into a sparring match with the girl, she concentrated on Perry, who had hit the lillipup, though not with the same amount of force. The pokemon had obviously been trained more than Perry had, but that didn't mean all hope was lost.

After all, Delaney Caldwell didn't lose, right?

_"Chimchar, jump up on top of that rock!" A girl with wide violet eyes and hair so blonde it was nearly white stood on the edge of the battlefield of Oreburgh Gym. The leader, a red-haired boy named Roark, had a gleam in his eye said this battle was all but won, but Delaney Christa Caldwell absolutely refused to lose. Of course, she could just train and battle Roark again if she lost, but she had already trained so hard for this! She couldn't lose!_

_Unfortunately, Quackers, a lethargic psyduck she had encountered near the entrance of Oreburgh City, and Samuel, the fiercely competitive Shinx that she had met outside of Jubilife that she had loved from the get-go due to his contagious spark (excuse the electric pokemon pun), had already been knocked out by Roark's team of rock-types (two of whom were also ground-types, unfortunately for Samuel). All that was left so far was Delaney's chimchar, a pokemon who was originally given to her father from Professor Rowan for his trophy garden because of its comparatively weak fire power- up until Delaney begged her father to let her train it and learned that its strength was in its attack, and Roark's cranidos, who seemed to have the upper hand in this battle. After all, it had a type advantage, it was at a higher level and Chimchar was weakened from the geodude that Roark had sent out before his final pokemon._

_"It has short arms, Chimchar! If you can just get out of its reach, you might be able to let him tire himself out! Climb up that rock wall! Climb as high as you can!" So it was unorthodox. Delaney had a slim chance of winning using traditional methods, so maybe if she got creative…_

_"Cranidos, don't let this monkey outsmart you!" Roark shouted, clearly shocked. "Headbutt the wall! Try to knock it down!"_

_"Just keep a tight grip on the rocks," Delaney called to her chimchar. "Try to use ember, if you can blow the flames without letting go. If you feel your grip loosening, just focus on staying up there where that cranidos can't get you!"_

That. That was precisely what she needed, and what she had begun to lack- creativity.

Back before she had become any sort of powerful, when she had often been on the bad end of type match-ups, she had been forced to resort to some truly odd tactics to winning matches. Logic said she shouldn't have been able to beat Roark's cranidos with Blitzkrieg, who was then an unnamed chimchar, but she had. There was no reason why this battle had to be a typical battle between two newbie trainers, where the pokemon who had just a little bit more training was the victor ninety-five percent of the time because of a smidge increase in attack power. Just like back then, logic seemed to state that this haughty girl's lillipup should probably beat Perry.

But there was not a chance in hell that Delaney was going to let that happen.

"Lilly, you're stronger than that oshawott. A couple more tackles and the win is all yours!" Lilly, who was a hair slower after being hit by Perry, was otherwise merry and yipped happily at her trainer. Apparently the taste of victory was sweet. She charged full force towards the small otter, ready to tackle him with all her might again.

"Perry, we're not going to let that happen!" Delaney called out to the oshawott, who was looking a little worse for the wear (and slightly discouraged, at that). "Remember what you did when you were battling that purrloin thing yesterday? How you blocked it with your shell? Do that again!"

At first, Perry seemed puzzled as to what his crazy trainer meant, but then he seemed to recall using his shell as a shield to stop Purrloin from scratching it the day before. As Lilly got uncomfortably close to him, Perry grabbed the shell once again and raised it to defend him before the lillipup could get in another devastating tackle. Lilly crashed into the shell face first and crumbled to the ground, though only for a second. Perry fell backwards from the force of the attack, though he was unharmed, which was more than one could say for Lilly. The lillipup wasn't so much as hurt as she was shocked, though Delaney was sure her face was at least slightly hurt.

"This is your chance, Perry!" Delaney called out with a giant grin. Her opponent's eyes widened as she realized that her victory was not yet definite. "Your tackle may not be as strong, but that lillipup is distracted and I'm sure you can get in a solid tackle before it gets up!"

The disenchanted, dull look in Perry's eyes had been replaced with a sparkle as it hurled its small body at Lilly. Talk about adding insult to injury- the oshawott had tackled the lillipup with more force than anybody expected and though both Delaney and Lilly's trainer stood quietly for a few moments, waiting for the lillipup to get back up, she didn't.

"We won," Delaney muttered to herself, a bit disbelievingly. "Perry," she said, growing more and more excitedly, raising her voice. "We won. Perry, you did it!" For the first time since arriving in Unova, Delaney was truly excited. She had forgotten exactly how thrilling it was to win a battle you thought you were going to lose.

Her opponent, though, was experiencing how it was to lose a battle you thought you were going to win. Her lips were pressed tightly together in irritation, though Delaney had heard her tell Lilly that she wasn't mad when she recalled the puppy pokemon. After recalling Perry, Delaney walked over to the girl and extended her hand once again to congratulate her for a good battle.

Again, the girl just glared at Delaney's hand as if the brunette were holding out a fish or something to her instead of offering her a cordial handshake and after a few awkward seconds, Delaney recalled her hand, her face flushing in embarrassment. Maybe she just wasn't a handshake person. "I hope we battle again sometime," Delaney said with a small forced smile. Seriously, why was this girl so damn rude?

"I've got to admit, that was a halfway decent strategy," she said, lips still pursed. "You have some potential. Just don't expect to win next time. Cream Megami doesn't lose, especially not to little girls like you." And with that, she walked off back in the direction of Accumula Town, head held high.

* * *

The thing about starting your day off early was that it seemed extra-long when the day was done. Not that it would've been a short day, anyways, given the hard, long day of training that Delaney and her pokemon had just gone through. Finally, there was a guardhouse in sight, and it was almost time for the day to end. Delaney was sure she wasn't the only one grateful; Perry and her new lillipup, Charlie, had put in a rough day of training against both trainers and wild pokemon. On the plus side, Delaney was pretty sure that they were fairly well-prepared against the other trainers in the area. Perry still wasn't very fast, but Charlie was pretty speedy if he felt threatened. The biggest issue with the lillipup so far was that he completely and utterly lacked focus.

To Delaney's surprise, her bag began to ring as she took her first step inside the guardhouse. She wondered briefly if she had set off some sort of security alarm, but then realized it was her crosstransceiver- it had been such a long time since it had rang that Delaney had almost forgotten what it sounded like. She picked it up and answered before looking to see who was calling.

Bad move number one, Caldwell.

The face of Lydia White filled the screen. Delaney's first instinct was to hang up. "Wait, hear me out," the woman said quickly, realizing what Delaney's intentions were. "I have-"

Yeah, Delaney Christa Caldwell definitely didn't give a shit. She placed the crosstransceiver back in her bag after clicking off the power. After waving to the guard, she continued on her merry way to Striaton City, all smiles and happiness despite her exhaustion. She was going to have an awesome sleep that night.

"Christa!" she heard somebody yell behind her. No way… The brunette spun around, only to find Lydia running through the door of the guardhouse.

"How did you get here so fast?" Christa asked, puzzled.

"I was already almost to this guardhouse when I called," she explained. Delaney really had nothing to say to that, and so she turned around and began to walk away.

"I know you're mad," Lydia said in a small voice. Delaney stopped where she stood. "But I wasn't trying to say that I didn't think you could be a trainer. You've obviously proven yourself. I just thought you might want to get used to being here first. This isn't exactly Sinnoh."

"Really," Delaney said sarcastically. "I had no idea." Again, she turned on her heel and began to walk away from the woman. "Save it, Lydia."

"Will you please stop acting like such a damn child?" Lydia snapped, angry for the first time since Delaney had arrived in Unova. "I came here to bring you a few things." She set down a large canvas bag that Delaney hadn't even noticed she had been carrying. "There are two more sets of your clothes in here. There's also a map of the Unova region in here, since you have no idea where you're going." Lydia was clearly seething. Delaney was more than a little shocked, seeing as how she had never seen the woman anything less than desperately cheerful. "And, uh, I talked to Aurea- Professor Juniper. I had to do quite a bit of pleading, but I finally talked her into a pokedex. I had to promise her you would fill it up as you travelled, so if that's not too much of a bother, I'd appreciate if you did that."

Delaney's eyes widened. Even travelling around Sinnoh, she had never had a pokedex- apparently she hadn't ranked quite high enough with Professor Rowan to get one. Very few trainers had a pokedex, and most of the ones that did were quite wealthy. Delaney's father could have afforded to get her one if she had made it clear that she had wanted one, but it had never been one of her priorities. Now that she was in Unova, where she knew nothing about any of the pokemon, though, it seemed like it would be a lot more useful.

And somehow, Lydia had scored her one.

Delaney hadn't even realized how much she wanted the pokedex until it was right there in front of her but still, she couldn't take it. Theoretically, gifts from your parents were to be appreciated, but Delaney had been making it clear since her arrival that she didn't consider Lydia to be a parental figure- more like an unwanted roommate. "I can't take that, Lydia," she said flatly.

"Yes, you can," the woman said sternly, narrowing her violet eyes. "You can even pretend it's a gift from the professor, not me, if that makes you feel better." The tall, thin woman began to walk away from the bag and back through the door of the guardhouse. Delaney felt a twinge of guilt in her stomach. Lydia had come all this way with a super nice gift and Delaney had completely blown her off. Yes, she had been a shitty mother for the vast majority of Delaney's life, but she was trying now- and Delaney wasn't making things easy for her. For some reason, the look in Lydia's eyes reminded her of her father telling her right before she left for Unova that he didn't know how to help her anymore.

Before walking out of the guardhouse, Lydia turned back and offered Delaney a small smile, as if acknowledging her guilt. Maybe making Delaney feel like an ungrateful bitch was her intention- who knew? Regardless, that was definitely the result of her anger. "Remember, honey, if you need to, you can always come home."

And just like that, she was gone.

Delaney took a few steps towards the bag and then picked it up, swallowing hard. If she could just go home, life would be so much easier. She would be back in that giant bedroom, enveloped in a large down-filled comforter. She would never get out of that queen-sized bed and if she did, it would be to give her father a huge hug and beg him to never make her go through anything like this again. She would train her pokemon like they deserved to be trained every single day, and maybe leave for the Battle Frontier. She would check out boys with Dax and gossip with him about everybody they knew. She would even rematch the gym leaders when they asked.

But that wasn't possible anymore. Delaney had to accept the fact that not only was she in a new place, but she was living a new life. Delaney Caldwell, the platinum-haired trainer that had so gleefully challenged gyms and climbed to the top of the trainer heap, was no longer in service. Christa White was who she had to be now, and she could either reluctantly train in a place she hated or make the best of it and rock Unova like she had rocked Sinnoh.

And you know, if she was going to be in Unova, there were worse places to call home than a nice little house with a woman who not only brought her clean clothes, but a map so she wouldn't get lost… and a pokedex. Maybe Lydia wasn't the best mother, but she at least deserved better than Delaney's denial of her existence.

For a final time, Delaney turned on her heel and walked through the guardhouse, and when she went through that door, she was at last in Striaton City. Instead of being excited, though, she was quite, quite sad.

* * *

**Author's Note (6/02/14): **So I genuinely meant to have this up at the end of last week, but I had family unexpectedly come into town (meaning that everyone else knew and I didn't know until I had to go drive out to the airport) and that changed my plans a bit. So bam, Monday morning. You can expect updates from me on Saturdays starting now- we'll go with Saturdays since I start a new position this week and I don't know the hours yet. And since this was kind of a short one, yes, I'll be updating this week on Saturday.

A million and one thank yous as always to my amazing beta **Noteleks**, and also to **Maddiepink5** for the character of Cream. Though I've gotten rid of most of the OCs that were in the original, there are a couple that are staying that worked into the revamped storyline exceptionally well.

Also thank you to you! For reading! That's exciting stuff for me!


	5. best regards from hell

_"Shhhhhhh!"_

Delaney peered over the side of the wall, her eyes scanning the Pokemon Center lobby anxiously. Perry was still sleeping in his pokéball, but Charlie was at her side, far more energetic than he had been the previous day. Way too energetic, if you were to ask his trainer, who was biting her bottom lip in anxiety and trying to time the perfect escape from the Pokemon Center. Well, not perfect. Just quick- a hop, skip and dash out of the doors was precisely what she needed in order to avoid being spotted.

To think she had almost leisurely strolled out into the lobby! It was a good thing that her eyes were quicker than her brain, because things could have gotten bad quickly.

After all, if Cheren was here, Bianca had to be close by.

Though Cheren alone probably would have been tough to take as well. From what she could tell by the conversation she had eavesdropped on in Nuvema Town, the two kept each other in check- Cheren would stop Bianca when she got too ditzy and chatty to take, and Bianca prevented Cheren from being overly snide and arrogant. He was probably an unbearable prick when his lighthearted friend wasn't around.

Delaney, however, thought they were both pretty unbearable anyways, hence why she was hiding.

Well, if you considered it hiding when you were standing next to a wall with half of your body still showing and hiding your face with your hair as much as humanly possible… and your lillipup is about to out your hiding spot by being oddly loud for such a small pokemon. The cheerful pup barked loudly before wandering out from where the two were doing quite a pathetic job of concealing themselves.

"Damn," Delaney swore under her breath. "This is already not my day, is it?"

Before Delaney could dart out to grab her pokemon, she could hear him start to fuss and yip, which typically meant someone had picked him up, and there was nothing Charlie disliked more than being picked up. A tall lanky young man with light brown hair and glasses came around the corner, holding the scowling and growling puppy, who was shedding on both his white t-shirt and the gray sweatshirt he had over it. "Is he yours?"

"Yeah," Delaney said, taking Charlie from him. The lillipup turned his irritation to Delaney and he bit at her hair. "Ahhhh! Are you going to stay by me if I put you down?" The lillipup looked at her with a blank look. "Ugh, that better be a yes," she muttered as she set him down. Instantly the scowl disappeared and he trotted around Delaney's feet. It wasn't too long before he had discovered the frayed laces on her sneakers and pounced on the offending string, pawing at the knot that kept Delaney's shoes on her feet.

"He's a feisty one," the guy commented, adjusting his wire-framed glasses. If Delaney hadn't been so agitated already, she would've pondered more on the fact that he was pretty attractive, but considering they were now out in the open, where Cheren and Bianca could find them, she didn't much care.

"That's Charlie. Feisty," Delaney grimaced. There were other words that she would definitely choose before feisty. "Thank you for grabbing him. He's… restless."

"Yeah, no problem. You guys have been standing here for a while. Are you waiting for someone?"

Well, now Delaney knew their hiding spot had been a bust anyways. "Not exactly."

The guy chuckled as he began to pick Charlie's hair off of his sweater. "Are you here to challenge the Striaton gym?"

"There's a gym here?" Delaney asked. She didn't know why she didn't just assume as much- if a trainer left from the lab in Nuvema and followed the path Delaney had been on since leaving Nuvema, Striaton would be the first bigger city a trainer would come upon. _Of course they would put a gym there._

"Yeah, it's usually the first one on the traditional circuit." He looked slightly puzzled as to why she wouldn't know this.

"I'm not from Unova," Delaney explained. Shit, why did she say that? She didn't need this stranger asking questions about where she was from. "Um, thank you for grabbing Charlie for me," she said quickly, grabbing the small puppy pokemon from by her feet. She could feel her shoestrings were wet from Charlie's saliva. "We should probably go."

"You're probably excited to go challenge that gym now," he grinned. "Before you go, what's your name?"

"Christa."

"Christa," he repeated thoughtfully, staring hard at Delaney. "I'm Luke. Maybe we'll meet again sometime."

"Yeah, maybe," Delaney echoed, though with all the trainers in Striaton alone (much less the rest of Unova), it was unlikely. In her arms, Charlie yipped unhappily. "Well, I guess that's my cue to go. Thanks again."

"Take care of yourself, Christa," Luke said with a two finger salute, and with that, he disappeared up the stairs.

At least there was no Cheren or Bianca.

* * *

The previous evening, she hadn't cared to glance around the city much- she had been caught up in her own thoughts after what had happened with Lydia. She had found the Pokemon Center, grabbed something to eat in the cafeteria there and then gone up to her room where she had stayed for the remainder of the evening where she had wrestled endlessly with her guilty conscience. She, of course, had lost (though really, in that battle, the winner and loser were one and the same) and had called Lydia right before she had gone to bed. It had been one of the most awkward conversations she had ever sat through (though her conversation with her father the day before she left still was still sufficiently more awkward), but it had made her feel a bit better. She had apologized for being so stubborn and thanked Lydia for making the trip out to Striaton and bringing her supplies, as well as a pokedex. Lydia's anger from earlier seemed to have melted upon answering the call, and she looked happier than Delaney had seen her, well, ever.

Not that this meant Lydia was getting a second chance. But nice gestured deserved a thank you. Years living in the Caldwell home meant at least fairly decent manners… Most of the time, anyways. And besides, Delaney was quite grateful to have slept in something other than the clothes that she had been wearing for two days straight.

Now, the brunette and her lillipup gazed restlessly around the small city of Striaton. The fact that they were somewhere bigger than a sleepy small town did wonders for Delaney's mood- she absolutely loved cities, and always had, even as a child. Granted, Striaton was no Hearthrome, but it wasn't Nuvema either. It had a few tall buildings, a rather large school and a few sprawling neighborhoods that looked like nice places to grow up.

The city in general had a friendly vibe, which was a bit strange for a city, seeing as how urban areas usually were far less welcoming and generally apathetic towards their many inhabitants. Delaney looked from building to building with a growing smile on her face. This was what she had always loved best when journeying- traveling to new cities and exploring (and shopping, if she was lucky). She didn't have nearly as much money on her as she had when traveling in Sinnoh, so going on a spree wasn't really an option now, unfortunately. She could always visit the school, though she was fairly certain it was going to be all about type match-ups and status conditions, as most learning institutions were. If they had been offering a crash course in say, Unovan pokemon, or how to make sure your secret identity stays secret, or how to have a less awkward conversation with the mother that abandoned you as a young child, she would sign right up, but otherwise, there was no point.

Her feet began to move, though where they were heading, the brunette had no idea. Charlie bounded in front of her happily, though he made sure to stay fairly close; he was just content to be out in the autumn sunshine no matter where the destination was. Then again, who was to say she needed a destination? Maybe she just wanted to explore and wander- what was so wrong with that? With a cheesily large smile on her face, she took Perry's pokéball out of her bag and released the otter pokemon as well, so he too could enjoy the day of doing nothing of importance. The oshawott yawned sleepily as it was released. Delaney giggled. "Wake up, sleepyhead! We're going to have fun today!"

"Christa! Hey Christa!"

Or not. Delaney's peaceful drifting was interrupted by exactly who she had wanted to avoid running into. The perky blonde Bianca was running to catch up with her, though the skirt and shoes she was wearing weren't exactly cooperating with her. The orange pig pokemon at her side wasn't helping matters much either, tripping over Bianca's feet and at times lagging behind, it's portly shape preventing it from being overly speedy. The two were quite a pair, rushing down the crowded street and nearly tripping with every step they took. "Maybe if I just pretend I don't see her…" Delaney muttered to herself.

"Shwott!" cried Perry gleefully, running back towards Bianca and her porky companion. And naturally, after seeing his friend Perry run off down the street, Charlie decided he needed to run after him to see what fun the oshawott might be chasing. Delaney's eyes widened- if she was going to chase after Perry and Charlie, she was going to run right into Bianca, literally. There was no avoiding this one.

"Damn, damn, damn…" Delaney chanted under her breath as she ran after the otter and puppy. Perry and Bianca's pokemon reached each other before their trainers did and seemed absolutely ecstatic to see each other. Charlie sniffed Bianca's companion, tail wagging, though the orange pig completely ignored him, focusing instead of Perry.

"So you got the oshawott!" Bianca exclaimed upon finally reaching Delaney. "I was totally planning on starting out with Oshawott, but when Cheren and I went to get our pokemon, Professor Juniper said somebody had already gotten him! I thought she said it was a boy, though, but maybe I'm mistaken and she was just saying that Oshawott was a boy…" Her chipper voice trailed off as Delaney processed the words that had just come out of her mouth.

A boy.

Well, at least Bianca hadn't started out her long, overdrawn mini-speech with _hey, that pokemon was stolen!_ Delaney really wouldn't have known what to say to that, and she probably would've started to cry at the idea that maybe she would have to give the little otter back. Even if her pokemon weren't overly fond of her, Perry and Charlie were still the best company she had.

Delaney was curious to know if it had been a boy that Professor Juniper had given Perry to, or if Bianca had indeed just misunderstood the professor- that was very literally the only hint she had to who could possibly have sent her the oshawott. Realizing that Bianca was looking at her expectantly, as if she expected Delaney to go into an equally long spiel, she cleared her throat and poised herself to reply… But to say what? Oshawott was given to her anonymously with an unsigned note that had a creepy tone to it that urged her to leave her home?

Arceus, her life sounded like a truly horrible soap opera. Days of Our Lives had nothing on Delaney Caldwell.

However, Christa White was a lot more boring than her platinum-haired counterpart. She also needed to think of something to say to her chatty neighbor before the girl thought she was crazy. "A friend of mine picked him up when he was passing through the area," she said with a falsely chipper smile. "He thought I might get lonely moving to a new town, so he gave Perry to me."

"How cute!" Bianca squealed. "Is this friend your booooooyfriend? Is he cute? What's his name?"

"That's a really long story," Delaney responded through gritted teeth. And none of your damn business. Delaney needed an out- she needed to find something to distract Bianca before she began asking questions that Delaney didn't have answers for. Where was Christa from? Delaney had no fucking clue. Why had she never lived with her mother before? Before the bubbly blonde would even know it, she would have gotten herself into a mess that was way too deep to get out of. "So tell me about your pokemon. What is it?"

Yes, it was a lame cop-out but the brunette was desperate- she just needed to get the blonde aimlessly chattering about something that was not Christa White. Bianca seemed pleased enough just to have a chance to talk (Cheren probably would have shut her up by this point, Delaney figured). "It's a tepig!" she announced, eyes wide with surprise. Then she giggled, though the airy laugh was more part of the conversation than it was a reaction to something funny. "Sorry, Christa, I keep forgetting you're not from Unova. Professor Juniper received three pokemon a long time ago to study- a fire-type, a water-type and a grass-type. She always said Cheren and I would get one each to go traveling, but it took us awhile to get out on our journeys because my dad didn't like the idea of me leaving home… But anyways, Bacon is the fire-type pokemon. I think Professor Juniper said he'll also be a fighting-type when he evolves." She glanced at her pokemon with a glowing smile on her face. The small pig pokemon was playing with Perry, both of them sporting bright grins. Charlie had lost interest in trying to butt in on the reunion, and had found a very interesting leaf in the street gutter that he was trying to pick up. "They probably remember each other from Professor Juniper's lab. They're friends!"

"Yeah, look at that," Delaney said weakly. She was almost sad for a moment that she hadn't gotten that pokemon instead- training another fire/fighting type would've almost been like training Blitzkrieg again. "Almost" was the key word in that sentence, though- she had loved running with Blitzkrieg back in Sinnoh and Tepig's lack of speed and portly build nearly guaranteed that Delaney would have gotten annoyed fast.

"Yeah, I'm so excited to start battling the gyms! I know Bacon and I are going to do great! That's actually where we were headed when we ran into you!" she said enthusiastically. Delaney mentally cursed Perry (and to some extent, Charlie, though this one was mostly the otter's fault) for dragging her into this conversation- it was seriously marring the carefree afternoon of exploring that Delaney had planned. "Hey, I've got an idea! We should totally battle! It'll help me get ready for the gym leader, and I'm sure you're going to start battling gyms soon too, right? It's a win-win situation!"

"Um…" What Delaney really wanted to say was no and shut up. Christa White was not challenging the gyms. That was something Delaney Caldwell did, and something Delaney Caldwell had grown to hate- no way would she put herself through the same torture.

"Hey Christa!" Bianca shouted, bringing Delaney back into focus. Delaney snapped her head back and met Bianca's eyes. "Now you can't say no to me anyways- our eyes met! I officially challenge you! Go, Bacon! It's time to prove to everyone how much stronger we've gotten!"

_Oh… Sneaky. That's how we're playing it, is it? I'll show you sneaky._

* * *

There was no doubt in the minds of Striaton pedestrians that the obnoxious wailing that could be heard blocks away was that of an ill-behaving child being punished. Those pedestrians had obviously never met Bianca.

Delaney was blown away by not just Bianca's tears, but the indescribable noise that accompanied them. People casually walking by turned their heads as they passed the two, most of them probably thinking that Delaney had done something unspeakable to the poor girl, rather than just defeating her in battle. The brunette didn't know exactly what to do- did she abandon the idea of prize money and just run? Did she try to comfort this girl she hardly knew and really didn't like? Laugh? Tell her to stop crying?

Okay, it was a bit more than Delaney winning- it was the fact that Delaney had absolutely trumped her.

As soon as Delaney had realized that the match was going to be a quick one, she had tried to slow down, tried to let Bianca's pokemon get in a few hits, but Perry hadn't liked her compassion one bit- the memories of losing to that N guy and his purrloin were obviously still fresh in his mind. Charlie hadn't paid attention to her subtle cues to slow down whatsoever. The result of the two's lack of cooperation meant that Bianca's own lillipup (obviously the runt of its mother's litter, it was rather small- way smaller than Charlie- and it had been trained very little) and Bacon (who had an obvious type disadvantage to Perry, especially after Perry had learned to use water gun and trained somewhat how to shoot small, moderately powerful jets of water out) were knocked down, pushed aside and rolled flat in battle. And while Perry and Charlie were absolutely ecstatic, Bianca was on the other end of that spectrum. Delaney had never seen somebody quite so devastated at a loss.

"Um… Bianca?" Delaney began hesitantly. "That was a good battle." Immediately after speaking, Delaney just wanted to facepalm herself. She dared anyone to find something more awkward for her to say. Open mouth, insert foot.

"For you, maybe!" Bianca wailed. "Why would you do that to my poor pokemon? WHY? Maybe my dad was right. Maybe I'm not tough enough to do this! I should've just let Cheren leave without me!"

Okay, there was something more awkward.

This definitely made Delaney's conversation with Lydia the night before look like a breezy conversation. Delaney wasn't sure what Bianca was looking for- guidance? Reassurance? Agreement? Arceus, this girl had 99 problems and then some.

Delaney cleared her throat. "Can I just say something? You don't have to prove anything to anyone. Not your dad, or Cheren, or anybody else. Trust me. If you end up doing things just because other people expect you to, you'll only end up disappointed with yourself, on top of hating everybody for pushing you too hard." Isn't that the truth.

"I already am disappointed with myself!" she howled, completely missing the point in all that Delaney had just said. "Christa, you just don't understand! Nobody does!"

Ugh, what did one say to that? "You can't win every battle?" Delaney said, hopelessly fishing for the right words to say to end Bianca's tears. "Everybody loses sometimes. I'm sure even Cynthia loses."

"The champion of Sinnoh?" Bianca asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, even champions need to train!" Delaney said with renewed zeal. Bianca had been so confused by her seemingly random analogy that she had stopped sobbing.

"I guess you're right…" Bianca said thoughtfully, her voice trailing off. "But you're a big meany for being so tough on Bacon and Ruffles! We need to go to the Pokemon Center and heal." With that, she turned on her heel and began to run in the direction of the Pokemon Center, though she was running just as awkwardly away from Delaney as she had run towards her, nearly tripping with each step (though Bacon was now in his pokeball).

That girl has more mood swings than Dax, Delaney thought to herself with a slight smile (because of Dax, of course, not because of Bianca's hysterics). Once Bianca was out of sight, she grabbed the pokèballs of both of her pokemon and released them once again. "Sorry about that, you guys," she muttered. "Not quite the relaxing day we were hoping for."

"Excuse me! Miss!" A man with dirty blonde hair and a goatee was running towards her, spectacles nearly falling off his nose each time his feet hit the ground.

"I will kick that man in the shin if he tries to battle me," she muttered towards Perry and Charlie, though she wasn't sure if they would understand, or care for that matter. Charlie, naturally, cared not even a little about Delaney's desire to avoid talking to this man and bounded up to him happily, weaving himself around the man's ankles until he discovered the stranger's shoelaces.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I couldn't help but watch your battle earlier. Can we say wow?" Despite the fact that he was panting from running to catch up with her, his voice was full of excitement.

"Um, I guess we can?" Delaney said apprehensively. "

"Listen, I work in the Striaton Gym as a host on the more busy nights. I book reservations for any events, as well as entertainment, and I think that you might be just what we're looking for!"

"Pardon?" she asked, confused. "Entertainment?"

"Sorry, I forget sometimes that not everybody knows this. The Striaton City Gym doubles as a restaurant run by our three leaders, Cilan, Chili and Cress and-"

"There are three gym leaders?" Delaney interrupted. She had heard of a pair of twin gym leaders in Hoenn, but three? That was just plain ridiculous!

"You only fight one of them," he said quickly. "But anyways, tonight there's a rather large business dinner being held in our restaurant for a big surveying firm in Castelia. During large gatherings like this, the three leaders like to entertain their guests with some particularly hot battles, and the trainer that was supposed to come by tonight had a bad run-in with some stairs, so we're looking for another hot trainer to fill their place. What do you say?"

"I'm not challenging gyms." Her voice was flat and firm. She was not going to budge, absolutely not.

"Oh, please miss! I've never seen a trainer here that battles quite like you do, and this is an important dinner for our restaurant! We really want our guests to be satisfied!" He was begging now.

"I'm sorry, but that's not my problem."

"What can I offer you to have you say yes? I can double your prize money, maybe offer you a complimentary meal… name what you want!"

"Listen, there are plenty of trainers around that I'm sure would really like this opportunity-"

"Do you really think that some adolescent with a purrloin is going to impress anyone?" the man asked with a grimace. "I'm gonna level with you, missy- this is a big event and if these businessmen aren't impressed with every aspect of their meal, then I might just get canned. I'm on my last strike with the gym leaders after I brought in some youngster that Chili thrashed in less than five minutes. You wouldn't do that to me, would you?"

Delaney sighed exasperatedly and judging by the grin that came across the man's face, he knew what that meant. As much as she wanted to punch him in his smug little face, she couldn't bear the thought of this weird little man losing his job and probably then his house all because Delaney wouldn't battle a gym leader. "Okay, okay, I'll do it."

Good thing Bianca didn't listen to a damn word Delaney said. She didn't take her own advice either apparently. So much for not doing things because people expected it of her. Although on some degree she was still right- she totally did hate this guy for talking her into it and if she lost in front of a bunch of strangers, she would be bitter as hell.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he cried, all but kissing her in his excitement. "Can I have your name so I can let all of the staff know who to expect?"

"Christa. Christa White."

"Okay, Christa, be there by six. Your battle should start by six-fifteen!" he said, and he began to jog off. "And thank you!" he called behind him.

Delaney couldn't shake the grimace off her face. Something was telling her that this couldn't possibly end well.

* * *

After five jogs around the room in the Pokemon Center, Delaney was no less nervous than she was before, and it was only two. She still had four hours before she had to be at the gym, and though any normal trainer would be sneaking in some last-minute power training with their pokemon, Delaney was too nervous to do much else than fidget.

Why, oh why, had she agreed to this?

Perry was for some reason in a grumpy mood as he sat in the small armchair by the door. Why he was grumpy, Delaney had no clue. Charlie, naturally, was bouncing around like a small child who had gotten into the ice cream and eaten far too much, nearly tripping Delaney each time she made a lap around the small room. It took nearly falling on her face for the third time for Delaney to realize precisely how ridiculous she looked doing laps around the room that was literally as big as her closet back in Sinnoh.

Yeah, this was serious. Pow-wow time.

With what little dignity she still retained, Delaney took a seat at the foot of her bed and faced Perry. "Charlie!" she called. "Come here! We all need to have a talk!" The small puppy scampered to where his trainer and fellow pokemon were sitting, though he didn't pick up on their serious attitudes. "You guys, today is a very big and important day that I didn't think was going to happen quite yet, at least not for a couple days. In a few hours, we're going to fight hopefully just one of the gym leaders of Striaton. Gym leaders are leaders for a reason- they're tough. It's not going to be easy."

Perry was staring at Delaney wide-eyed, growing a bit more nervous as Delaney continued to talk. Charlie was a different story. He found a loose thread in the carpet and prodded it curiously with his paw. When it didn't fight back, he pawed at it again. "But not all battles are easy," Delaney continued. "In fact, the best battles are actually really tough. I have a feeling this battle is going to be one of- Fuck, Charlie, what did you just do?" she yelled, jumping up from the bed. The small puppy had somehow yanked the thread out of the carpet completely, pulling out several more with it. The missing carpet threads had left a small, but noticeable hole in the flooring, one that could easily be reported and that Delaney could be fined over. Both Charlie and Perry looked at her with wide eyes and with a small yelp, Charlie dove under the bed.

"Charlie, I'm sorry!" Delaney begged. "Please come out!" The lillipup would not budge, though- Delaney had scared him by raising her voice. She sighed. "Maybe I'm not cut out for this anymore," she muttered to herself. "Perry, do you want to finish talking?" His small otter glare as he turned his back towards her said volumes even if he didn't verbally respond. "Great."

Delaney said back down on the small full-sized bed, dismayed and discouraged. If she couldn't get her own pokemon to listen to her, how were they going to win? Were they about to make enormous fools of themselves in front of a bunch of strangers?

The brunette sighed as she grabbed her trainer's bag and reached inside to grab her crosstransceiver. She dialed her number one on speed dial and waited for him to pick up.

Dax's face filling the screen was enough to make Delaney feel tons better, though her glee was interrupted by Dax's message system, indicating that they weren't about to have a long, bizarre conversation about boys, pokemon and other random things (as Dax was prone to going off on tangents). He was probably out training with his pokemon that enjoyed his company and didn't hide under a bed to get away from him because he was an enormous bitch.

Or you know, he was just ignoring the call because the last time they had seen each other in Sinnoh had been weird and tense and awkward and he was quite possibly sick of her shit. Either were a distinct possibility.

"Dax, it's me, Delly. I haven't heard from you since I've been out here and I wanted to say hi," she said, trying not to cry as she recorded the message. "I'm going to battle the first gym leader of Unova tonight and I just wanted… to say hi, I guess. I miss you. Call me back when you're not busy." And with that, she hung up and placed the crosstransceiver in her bag.

_"Remember, honey, if you need to, you can always come home."_

* * *

**Author's Note (6/15/14): **While originally I didn't feel the need to post an author's note, because you all know how much I love you (hint: it's a lot) for reading and/or throwing me some constructive criticism and I actually got this chapter up in a relatively short amount of time, I now feel the need to as I am reposting this chapter with a few edits.

So thanks **Shadow Serenity 57, **for pointing out some edits that needed to be made after posting it originally, because I forgot to take out a note from my beta when I got her edits and notes back.

Chapter 6 will be posted within the next 24 hours. Thanks all!


	6. i don't shine if you don't shine

If there was one thing Delaney hated, it was the tense silence in her room at the Striaton City Pokemon Center. The only time that she was lucky enough to escape it was when Charlie whimpered from under her bed, but that wasn't really lucky at all- it was just a terse reminder to Delaney about what a complete jerk she was. She had tried to apologize both to Charlie and Perry, who was not pleased with her or her rude behavior either, but it did not a bit of good. Perry sat cross-armed in a chair, refusing to look in Delaney's direction and Charlie stayed in the corner between the bed and the wall. And to make matters worse, it was already four-thirty- she had about an hour and a half until her big battle and she wasn't even sure if her pokemon were willing to battle on her side.

Dandy. What could possibly make things better?

Delaney sighed. She had no earthly idea what to do to make things up to her pokemon, she was stuck in this place where she knew few people and it was likely that all of them were pissed at her (not that she was their biggest fans either, but still) and even after calling back again, she still couldn't get a hold of Dax. There was only one other person that could possibly make her feel better at the moment. Hopefully he wasn't as busy as her best friend…

After getting her Crosstransceiver off her bedside table, she pressed and held the 2 button. After one, two, three painfully slow rings, the cheerful face of Blake Caldwell filled the small screen. She half-expected him to announce that he was not available and wouldn't she please leave a message and he would get back to her, but fortunately, this was not the case. "Delaney!" he greeted her happily, and though she realized it was a bit ridiculous, Delaney's eyes filled with tears. She hadn't talked to her father since she had been in Unova, partially because things had been a bit crazy since her arrival and partially because she was still pretty pissed that he had made her leave her home. She hadn't realized how much she had missed him, with his little sweater over the shoulders, though soon, she was sure, he would be wearing it. Autumn in Sinnoh was cold, after all. She also hadn't realized how much she missed being called by her real name- she hadn't been referred to as Delaney since she had left Sinnoh either. "How are you, sweetheart? How is Lydia's house?"

"Well, I'm actually no longer at Lydia's house," she said with a small smile. "I started traveling again a couple days ago."

"Good for you!" he said, not in that way that some people say good for you that indicates that they don't care one bit but in a way that showed that he really believed this was a good thing for her. "I'm proud of you, Del. I know you'll have just as much fun as you did on your journey here."

Realistically speaking, most of Delaney's original journey hadn't exactly been fun and this one wasn't particularly fun either, so she hoped it went up from here. "How's it in Sinnoh?" she asked. Yes, her inner mantra had been to focus on Unova and her life here, but that didn't mean she didn't still miss it.

"It's fine," Blake said quickly, the words rolling off his tongue in a tight voice that indicated that something was wrong but he wasn't willing to divulge just what. "Tell me more about Unova. Have you made any friends?"

Delaney considered feeding him a crock of bullshit, considered pretending that she was all sunshine and smiles and that all was wonderful here in Unova… But truth be told, she was sick of pretending to be somebody she was not. "No." An awkward pause as Blake waited for her to continue. He didn't look very surprised at this news. Delaney had never been great at making friends anyways. "I'd like to say I don't care but… I kind of do. Traveling makes me think of Dax and it's kind of lonely out here by myself. I tried to call Dax but he didn't answer and he hasn't called me back. I'm pretty sure he's mad at me. And I'm pretty sure my pokemon hate me," she said, tears filling her eyes. "I'm supposed to battle one of the gym leaders in an hour and… fifteen minutes and I'm not even sure they'll battle with me. I made a girl cry when I beat her… And I upset Lydia. It kind of sucks here. Well, it really sucks. And it sucks even worse that I can't go home and it's not like home was that much better and I know I was alone there too but-"

"Delaney, calm down," Blake interrupted, though it was clear he had no idea what to say to comfort his typically not very emotional daughter. "It's going to get better. After all, you're Delaney Caldwell-"

Delaney nearly laughed as she interrupted him, wiping tears off of her cheeks with her hand "No, I'm Christa White. I would much rather be Delaney Caldwell right now, believe me."

"You're Delaney, no matter what you're telling people right now," he said firmly. "Think of all that you've been through already. Compared to that, Unova is nothing. Lydia will forgive you if she hasn't already. That girl will get better because she battled you… You'll inspire her! And you'll make friends. You didn't even become friends with Dax until nearly halfway through your journey. Everybody is just worried about standing on their own two feet as a trainer right now. Eventually when people get a handle on being on their own, they'll be more ready to branch out and meet people." He paused, taking an audible breath. "And I'm sorry you can't come home. If I thought coming home would help, I would get you on a boat right now, but I really think this will be good for you."

"I know," she murmured, wiping the tears from her face, a bit irritated with herself for getting so upset.

"And I seriously doubt your pokemon hate you," he added, adopting a more serious tone. "Your team in Sinnoh loved you, Delaney and your new pokemon will love you just as much, but you just have to get used to the fact that these pokemon are different. They don't know the strategies you taught the others, or your preferences, or your strengths and weaknesses as a trainer or as a person. You're starting over really in every way. It's a new beginning," he said, smiling a bit. "How often does anyone really get a fresh start? The chance to start from the very beginning- fix your mistakes, change what you want to change."

Okay, so Blake had begun to ramble, as he tended to do after a point… But he made a good point. How many times had she wished she could go back to easier times in the midst of the insanity that had become her life back in Sinnoh during the Galactic mess? Here it was- life was pretty basic now, with the exception of the whole secret identity thing. She had two pokemon and a whole adventure ahead of her. "Thanks, Dad," she said with a small smile on her face. She had definitely made the right choice in calling him.

"Of course, sweetheart," he said with a grin on his face. "Now go get your first badge."

"I'm not promising anything on that front," she said with a grimace on her face. Fact of the matter was, she was really not ready and she was probably going to lose, but winning and losing didn't matter right now- getting through to Perry and Charlie did. "I'll call you later and let you know how it went. I love you, Dad."

The smile on Blake's face could've lit all of the gyms in Sinnoh. "I love you, too, Delly. Now go do what you do best," he said and within a quick second, his face disappeared from her screen, which made her quite sad again. Despite her irritation with him, she truly missed him, and in the end, she couldn't blame him. He had only been doing what he had thought was right, even if she didn't necessarily agree with him. He was giving her a new beginning, and maybe that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She just had to make the best of it.

The first thing that had to be done, though, was apologizing to Charlie and Perry. She set the Crosstransceiver back on her bed, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She counted to one, two, and three and opened her eyes. To her surprise, Perry was standing at her feet, looking alarmed. "What's wrong?" she asked, wondering if something had happened to one of them without her noticing. She would never forgive herself…

Instead of pointing out danger, though, the oshawott toddled towards her and wrapped his small arms around her leg. Delaney was confused and almost asked Perry what exactly was going on until she realized- he was worried about her. And after all, didn't worrying about somebody mean you cared?

Despite her attempts against them, tears filled Delaney's eyes again. Ugh, when did she turn into the kind of person who cried at the drop of the hat? Must be an Unova thing. Christa was definitely a lot softer than Delaney Caldwell had been.

Perry was staring up at her, still startled at her disarray. "I'm sorry, Perry," she said quietly. "And I'm so sorry for yelling, Charlie," she said, raising her voice in an attempt to address them both. Not a single rustle of movement could be heard- Charlie hadn't even remotely responded to her (not like she could blame him). "You guys deserve a lot better trainer than me, like one that actually wants to be traveling and doing this whole gym challenge thing. I probably shouldn't have left Nuvema, but it's too late for that now. You know what, though? These last couple days that we've been traveling have been the best couple days I've had in a long time." To her relief, Perry was actually listening closely to her, as if he understood and cared about how she felt. It had been a long time since she had been able to say that about anybody. "You see, my dad made me realize something today. I've been given a fresh start. I wanted one so badly, and when I got one, I kind of freaked out. I don't want to make excuses for the fact that I've been a jerk, and I have been- to you guys, to my parents, to Bianca and Cheren… Even though they're really annoying, I've been pretty rotten to them. But I've been rotten to you as well, and I'm sorry."

And then there it was- a rustle in the corner, and then a furry head poking out from under the bed, eyes wide. Delaney was so excited she almost began to cry- yes, again (seriously, this crying kick needed to end). "So we're supposed to battle the gym leader in forty minutes in front of a bunch of strangers. I can't promise you anything as far as this battle goes, other than I will support you guys as best as I can and cheer you on whether you win or lose. I've put kind of unfair expectations on you so far as far as battling goes, and I'm sorry for that. I haven't been pushing you like a good trainer should, because I'm afraid you'll get hurt." _Like Marvel did._ "And I guess I'm kind of afraid in general. I didn't want to travel again. I didn't want to go through what I went through in Sinnoh. There was so much pressure as far as Team Galactic went… And even though Team Galactic isn't here, I was afraid of that kind of pressure being placed on me..."

"So instead of pushing you, I guess I've just expected you to kind of do it yourselves. To be honest with you, I've been really afraid of pushing you because I've seen the bad things that can happen when that happens. My togekiss, Marvel... Well, a really bad person hurt him and now he's not here anymore." There was no way Delaney could feasibly explain Cyrus or Team Galactic to her two small pokemon in the span of time they had, nor did she want to. "I could continue rambling, and I'm beginning to sound way too much like my father, but now we've only got thirty-seven minutes and we have to walk to the gym… And now I'm kind of rambling out of nerves. Will you please do me the honor of battling by my side? Both of you?" And with that, Perry burst out into a grin and nodded his small head, while Charlie bounded out from under the bed and wagged his tail eagerly.

That was a yes. Oh, _thank Arceus_ it was a yes.

* * *

Delaney arrived at precisely 5:58, two minutes before the strange man had told her to be there. The restaurant was small and cozy, despite the large number of people milling about looking for seats. The man hadn't been exaggerating- this was certainly a big dinner, and the men in stuffy suits made her a bit nervous. She likely wasn't going to live up to their expectations, but damn it, she was going to try. Oddly enough, the man who had instructed her to be there was nowhere to be seen.

6:02.

Perspiration began to build at Delaney's temples and her pulse began to quicken. What if this was some sort of joke? What if that man had no affiliation with the gym and was some crackpot looking to play a mean joke on a teenage girl? What if she was exactly where she wasn't supposed to be and the owners of this gym/restaurant were about to show up and yell at her for interrupting this obviously huge and important dinner? What if-

The purple shirt.

There he was, in the midst of a sea of expensive suits and cuff links. The man who had stopped her after her battle with Bianca was wearing the most obnoxious silk purple shirt she had ever seen. Seriously, what guy in his right mind wore shirts like that? Dax wouldn't have been caught dead in this mauve monstrosity, and he had the guts to wear orange, which was really saying something. Silk Shirt was heading right her way, a relieved smile on his face. "Christa! Christa White! Oh thank goodness you're here! There are even more people here than we expected. Cilan is waiting for you!"

"Cilan?" Delaney asked, a bit confused. Her mind had been completely wiped out of nerves. More people than expected. More people here to watch her fail. Great.

"Cilan is one of the three gym leaders. He'll be the one you'll battle. Please follow me, Miss White," he said in a formal, serious voice. As she followed him through the people chatting and trying to find a seat, she caught a couple of confused glances (as well as a few not so appropriate glances from the obvious office perverts). As they continued on, a new distraction came into view. And on a podium in front of the battlefield were three boys, maybe a year or two older than Delaney herself, each with a different shade of Crayola crayon hair.

Well, if she was going to lose, she was going to have fun doing it.

"Good evening, patrons!" boomed the red haired one with a microphone in his hand. "My name is Chili, and I'm joined by my brothers Cress and Cilan. Our father has owned this restaurant for over twenty years, and following his retirement last year, we have been taking care of the restaurant, as well as holding positions as the Striaton City gym leaders. When we have evenings such as this, we like to entertain our guests with battles from promising trainers." All of the sudden, Christa's throat began to feel like sandpaper. This was her turn.

* * *

_A tall, thin young man with shaggy burgundy hair stood in the middle of the room. His kind smile only made Delaney feel that much more nervous. "Welcome! This is the Oreburgh Pokémon Gym. I'm Roark, the Gym Leader! And you are?"_

_"Delaney Caldwell," she said, feigning confidence so that Roark didn't know exactly how terrified she was. Her violet eyes were always unwavering, but inwardly, she was panicking._

_"Nice to meet you, Delaney!" he said, flashing yet another smile at her. He was either oblivious to her absolute terror or very good at pretending he didn't notice. "I'm but one Trainer who decided to walk proudly with Rock-type Pokémon! But you knew that already, seeing as how you've defeated the others that train in this gym. As the leader of Oreburgh Gym, I need to see your potential as a trainer, and I'll need to see the toughness of the Pokémon that battle with you! Are you ready, Delaney?"_

_"As ready as I'll ever be, Roark," she retorted, pushing her platinum hair out of her face. "Come on out, Quackers!"_

* * *

"Tonight we have a trainer that was described to us as absolutely electrifying and a force to be reckoned with. She will be fighting Cilan and his grass-type pokemon! Please come join Cilan on the battlefield, Miss Christa White, and good luck to both you and your pokemon!"

Never before had Christa walked onto a battlefield to applause and even though it made her more nervous, she had to admit she liked it. She was hoping that meant they were rooting for her to win.

Cilan was slightly shorter and skinnier than the other two that were standing on stage, and he had a cheerful disposition about him that made Christa want to just sit down and talk to him. "Good luck, Christa," he said with a cheerful smile. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," she said with a grin. "Perry, you're up first!" she said, releasing the oshawott. With another toothy smile, Cilan released… a lillipup.

"Well that's not a grass-type," Delaney muttered to herself. But still, thank Arceus. A pokemon that she recognized and could at least properly battle, even though this one had a vicious glint in his eyes that she had never seen in the species. Maybe this would be like battling that Cream girl, or Bianca. They both had lillipups… And she had a lillipup! This was going to be easy!

* * *

_"Samuel! Oh no, I'm so sorry!" Delaney cried, running to where the small shinx had been knocked flat by the geodude. "It looked small, and it was moving pretty slow. I thought you'd be able to take it!"_

_"Never underestimate your opponent, Delaney," Roark said with a raise of his eyebrow. "You forgot to factor in the type advantage that Geodude has over your shinx."_

_"I thought it might be too early in the game for your geodude to know any moves that made his advantage useful," she admitted sheepishly._

_"You're right, but his throws and his tackles are still pretty powerful, even though he's a little guy. You may know your stuff, Delaney, but you might want to look beyond what you know. Facts are nothing when you can't put them in context."_

* * *

This lillipup was nothing like Bianca's lillipup, or Cream's, or her own. This lillipup was the Cujo of the Unova region. It was bloodthirsty, it was vicious, and it was going to eat her soul… Okay, maybe not, but it wasn't at all sunshine and smiles like its trainer. It had absolute perfect focus and a desire to win, and that made Delaney want to win just so she could say she had beaten Cujo.

He was quick, and he was hard-hitting, and he was making Perry's head spin. The oshawott hadn't yet been in a battle where his opponent was so determined to win no matter what the cost. Delaney was willing to say that the lillipup wanted to win more than Cilan did, by a long shot. He was coming at Perry from all sides and the oshawott was floundering, panicking, nervous… Just like his trainer was. His attacks weren't hitting. He wasn't deflecting attacks as well as he usually did. This was not good.

* * *

_Delaney hadn't yet considered the possibility of losing, but with Chimchar being the only pokemon she had left; it was becoming more and more likely. Quackers and Samuel were out for the count. It was up to Chimchar to somehow beat both Geodude and whatever Roark's final pokemon was. "Okay, Chimchar, we can do this! We just have to be creative!"_

* * *

Creativity. Imagination. Innovation. Those three things had won Delaney her first battle against Roark, as well as the battle against Cream. Perry couldn't take too many more hits from Cilan's lillipup. It was time to try something new.

"Perry, next time lillipup comes close to you, climb on its back!" Delaney yelled. She could hear murmured questions from the crowd (she had almost forgot they were there, in all honesty), as well as a 'what the hell' from Chili at the podium (apparently his mic wasn't as far away as he thought). In addition to confusing all of the people in the room, she had puzzled Perry, though not too badly. Cujo heard her as well, and tried to put the brakes on and then hit reverse in an effort to stay away from the otter pokemon, but determination struck the oshawott who jumped onto the lillipup with fervor. Gasps replaced murmurs and a grin replaced Delaney's furrowed brow.

"Okay, Perry, I want you to use your water gun while you have Lillipup so close!" The oshawott gladly shot out a powerful stream of water (well, as powerful as one could expect from such a small otter), aimed directly at the lillipup's face with a vengeance. The lillipup spurted about and tried to bite Perry, but without even Delaney's direction, he shot another cold blast right into the puppy's face.

There was no recovering from that one. Cujo had fallen.

* * *

_"Chimchar, I'm so proud of you!" Delaney squeaked as she embraced the small monkey excitedly, blonde hair flying everywhere. "That was amazing!"_

_"Don't get too confident yet, Delaney," Roark said with a grin. "My next pokemon is quite a doozy. Let's go, Cranidos!"_

* * *

"You're different from most beginning trainers," Cilan said with a smile. "But do you think you can bring down my next pokemon? Come on out, Pansage!"

A small green, rather leafy monkey was released, and though he didn't look nearly as bloodthirsty as his puppy predecessor, this monkey was not messing around. Here was the grass-type that Silk Shirt had announced to the audience, meaning that Charlie would have to make an appearance soon. Hopefully Perry would be able to hold off the pansage for at least a little while…

* * *

_"It has short arms, Chimchar! If you can just get out of its reach, you might be able to let him tire himself out! Climb up that rock wall! Climb as high as you can!" So it was unorthodox. Delaney had a slim chance of winning using traditional methods, so maybe if she got creative…_

_"Cranidos, don't let this monkey outsmart you!" Roark shouted, clearly shocked. "Headbutt the wall! Try to knock it down!"_

_"Just keep a tight grip on the rocks," Delaney called to her chimchar. "Try to use ember, if you can blow the flames without letting go. If you feel your grip loosening, just focus on staying up there where that cranidos can't get you!"_

* * *

And Perry was down.

Delaney ran to the fallen otter's side with a pokeball ready. "You were so amazing out there," she told him as she scooped him up so he could have a well-deserved rest. "I am so proud of you and I couldn't have asked for you to do any better. Thank you for battling with me," she whispered to him as she felt her eyes cloud up a bit. In all honesty, if they lost, it wouldn't entirely matter- the battle had far exceeded her expectations already. However, Caldwells never gave up and even though technically it was Christa White battling at the moment, she was still a Caldwell through and through. She released Charlie with a grin and the puppy charged out with a glint of determination in his eye. She had never seen Charlie so serious before, but the look on his face said he was there to win. Delaney grinned at the small puppy pokemon. This was going to be interesting, that was for sure.

* * *

_"Keep headbutting the wall, cranidos!" Roark yelled, visibly frustrated. "That chimchar has to come down sometime, and we'll be waiting for him when he does!"_

_"Climb higher!" countered the young blonde girl. "At this point, trying to blow flames at Cranidos while it headbutts doesn't matter. All that matters is that he can't get you! I know we can wear him out! We can do this!"_

* * *

It was that look of frustration that was quickly appearing on Cilan's face, as Charlie somehow managed to dodge all of the vine whips and fury swipes of Pansage, missing each attack just barely. Charlie was faster than Delaney had given him credit for, and according to the look on his face, he was reveling in pissing off the monkey pokemon, who had sailed past frustration with ease and was now edging upon rage. He was losing his focus quickly, as his attacks were coming less close to Charlie with each strike (which, of course, only made him madder).

"Okay, Charlie, I want you to circle Pansage one more time and then tackle him!" Delaney called out.

"When he gets close, lick him! Try to paralyze him so he can no longer run!" Cilan countered. Delaney bit her lip in worry. If Charlie couldn't run, there was no way they could fight off the raging monkey.

The glint in Charlie's eye hadn't yet gone away. After one circle, the pansage looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to come close so that he could attempt to paralyze him. What he didn't expect was that Charlie was now more than aware of the situation and in a valiant attempt to surprise Pansage; he made another half circle around the leafy monkey and tackled him from behind with all his might. Even Delaney hadn't seen that coming, and now Charlie was on top of Pansage, who was lying on the ground face down. There was no way he could turn around now with Charlie sitting on his back.

"While you're close, bite him!" Delaney yelled. The lillipup was more than happy to, as he sank his teeth into Pansage's shoulder. Pansage squirmed beneath Charlie, and Cilan squirmed from where he stood.

"Try to use your vine whip!" Cilan called nervously.

"Let Pansage get up, Charlie, don't be rude," Delaney said with a mischievous grin not unlike the one on her lillipup's face. "But do make sure to dodge that vine whip."

* * *

_"Cranidos, come on! It can't stay up there forever!" Roark pleaded with the rock pokemon, who was very visibly exhausted. He didn't have much left in him, which was quite unfortunate, as Chimchar was still spry and bright-eyed and more than ready to attack._

_The platinum haired girl was absolutely delighted. "Okay, Chimchar, this is our chance! If you jump straight down, you'll land on his head!" With a mischievous grin, Chimchar jumped down in a move that could almost be described as shooting himself off the rock, and he landed on the cranidos with a vengeance. "Okay, Chimchar, now since you're at close range, use your ember! You've got this!"_

_And after the shot of flames, it was all over._

* * *

The first vine whip had hit. Cilan looked almost hopeful, but Pansage didn't look like he cared anymore. He had accepted this as a loss, especially when Charlie looked more indignant than wounded. If anything, it had only made him more desperate to win. "I think one more tackle should be good, Charlie!" Delaney shouted. The puppy locked eyes with his trainer, grinned and ran full force at Pansage, knocking him down. This time, Charlie didn't stay perched on top of Pansage. He didn't need to. Pansage wasn't getting back up.

* * *

_"Well, this is embarrassing. I lost to a trainer without a single badge… But you're no ordinary trainer, are you, Delaney? Not many rookie trainers could come in here with a fire-type pokemon and win," Roark said with a tight-lipped smile as he handed Delaney a shiny piece of metal with brown etchings made to look like a cross between a boulder and a pokeball- the Coal Badge. Despite how she had been trying to control herself, when the badge touched her fingertips, a few tears ran down her face and she burst into a huge smile. "Congratulations. I think you'll find your next win a bit easier."_

_Delaney couldn't speak, afraid that she would really start to cry like an idiot if she opened her mouth. She had never been a crier, but somehow, the idea of winning this battle had brought her to tears._

_This was real. They did it._

* * *

Normally, Delaney would care that she had just made herself sound like an asshole with the ridiculous screech of excitement that had escaped from her mouth before she could stop it, but at the moment, she couldn't say she cared. A blur of fur darted towards her, as she waited for him with open arms. She embraced Charlie tightly, a smile on her face that could rival a gengar. "I'm so so proud of you," she told him as he wriggled excitedly. "You were amazing out there. You really did it." Taking a deep breath, she grabbed Charlie's pokeball and called him back so that he could rest. Cilan was standing over Pansage in a daze.

Behind the two trainers, the audience of businessmen was cheering and talking amongst themselves about the battle. The other two brothers and Silk Shirt were beginning to serve their dinner. Cilan looked up from his pokemon and shot her a grin. He recalled the small, leafy monkey and met Delaney where she stood on the battlefield and greeted her with a handshake. "That was very impressive, Christa," he said. "I can acknowledge when I've been bested by a good trainer. You've definitely earned this." And with that, he reached into his pocket and grabbed a small piece of metal. "This is the Trio Badge. Congratulations, Christa White."

Delaney took the badge with shaking hands and then placed it in her old, empty badge case. She almost wished that the eight she had collected in Sinnoh were right there with it, but they had been thrown into the water in Pastoria in a fit of hysteria. But maybe they didn't fit into her new journey with her new badge anyways. "Thank you," was all she could say and with that, she began to walk back towards the entrance. Some of the businessmen congratulated her as she walked past them, and those office creepers got their last leer in. And in an almost dreamlike state, Delaney walked out of the doors, and began to head back to the Pokemon Center, skipping.

Yes, skipping.

An overjoyed brunette, a bit shorter than she'd like, with flashing blue eyes, made her way to the Pokemon Center, skipping along the streets of Striaton City with a big smile and tear tracks on her face. Onlookers probably thought she was crazy, but she could care less.

"Christa!" Pausing in her skipping, Delaney spun around, only to find a tall, lanky teenage boy with hair as straight as a pin and glasses perched on the end of his nose. Cheren. Delaney had to admit, she was a bit nervous- she hoped he wouldn't challenge her to a battle when she hadn't even had time to heal her pokemon yet. She felt a brief pang of guilt in her gut, remembering her realizations of her rude behavior towards Cheren and Bianca. Maybe this was the time to apologize (though she hoped that if she did, he wouldn't think they were friends, because she still didn't want that. She just wanted to apologize for being an ass).

"Hello, Cheren," she said with a polite smile. "Have you battled the gym yet? You're battling gyms, right?"

"No, my battle is tomorrow. They had some sort of dinner they were hosting tonight," he said, almost as if it were an afterthought. "Instead I've spent my evening consoling my crying friend. How could you?" he asked her accusingly. "I don't know how you do things where you're from, but you could have at least given her a chance. And then you had to rub it in afterwards!"

"I was trying to calm her down!" Delaney argued. "She was hysterical. I panicked! I'm not so good at the whole soothing crying people thing."

"She didn't see it like that," Cheren said curtly. "I'm frankly surprised you made it all the way here given the haphazard way you just took off. I thought you'd be stuck around Accumula."

"Well, I'm not," Delaney said, slightly insulted. "I'm going back to the Pokemon Center. I need to heal my pokemon, seeing as how they just won their first badge." And Cheren was ruining her celebration anyways.

"You beat the gym?" Cheren said, losing a bit of his composure. "_You _did?" The black-haired teen took a deep breath, trying to control his irritation. But by then, Delaney was already gone, and her giant smile was back on her face.

She skipped all the way back to her room.

* * *

**Author's Note (06/16/14): **Hello, wonderful TCatG readers, we are finally into the gym challenge! Thank you as always for reading and for sending me constructive criticism, which is always much appreciated.

In case you want more visualization of the characters of this story, you can check me out on Tumblr, where I'm posting my character designs and stuff. The link is on my profile page. So far just Christa/Delaney (both the Sinnoh and Unova incarnations of the character are up) are posted, since I don't want to spoil characters coming up for those of you who are reading the story for the first time, but yep, any extra stuff for this story will be up there.

Thanks as always to **Noteleks**, who is really the greatest beta. Also thank you to **Shadow Serenity 57**, who pointed out a spot or two with the last chapter where I made a couple of editing mistakes which have been fixed.

See ya next week!


	7. you think i'm someone you can trust

As Delaney headed down the road out of Striaton, she had to stop herself from skipping again. She was still glowing from her win the previous evening, the sun was shining brightly, the road to Nacrene was winding, there were birds chirping somewhere - what more could she ask for? She was pretty much straight out of some children's cartoon or something.

She was just past Striaton when she noted a daycare on her right, but shuddered at the thought of small children as she grabbed her ringing Crosstransceiver. Children made her nervous - it was part of the only child thing. It was her goal to get past the daycare unnoticed, because with her luck, somebody would've had the insight to give them pokemon and they would want to battle. She ignored the tots out playing on the playground completely as she answered the call with a smile, assuming it was her father checking in after their talk (and her freakout) yesterday. Instead, a much younger male with wiry blonde hair and electric blue eyes filled her screen, and Delaney squealed. "Dax!"

"Delaney Christa Caldwell," he said with a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry I haven't called before now."

"No, no, it's okay!" Delaney said quickly. "I kind of thought you didn't want to talk to me."

"I didn't." And there was the unapologetically blunt Dax Briley that she knew. "But I just missed you too damn much, and also, I didn't think you would answer anyways and I could just leave a nice message. But anyways, that in the background does not look like a house in Nuvema Town… Not like I've been there, but it does not look like a house period. Where the hell are you, Delaney Christa Caldwell? Out for a run?"

"Shhh," she said, looking around to make sure nobody had heard Dax. "Delaney Christa Caldwell is not supposed to be in Unova. It's Christa White that you're speaking to. I'm, um… travelling. I just left Striaton City, if you know where that is."

"No clue," he admitted. "But wow! I'm excited you finally listened to me! I knew you would eventually! Any new friends yet? Or cute boys?"

"Not a single one of either," Delaney chuckled, deciding to let Dax continue to think his insisting had been the cause of her new journey. "But I did just get my first gym badge. Arceus, it's been so long since I've said that."

"Think of it as your ninth," Dax suggested. "That will probably make you feel like less of a newbie."

"No," she said quickly. "This journey is new." She paused and then burst out into another grin. She was so excited to finally be talking to Dax, despite what had transpired the last time they had talked. "How's the Frontier? And what happened to the guy from last time?"

"Oh, we happened to meet again at the Battle Factory," Dax said with a sigh. "It was there that I also met his girlfriend."

"Bummer," Delaney said as she turned the corner past the daycare… Only to see three people on the path up ahead, and the straight black hair on one of them was a dead giveaway on who she was about to be dealing with. She groaned in dismay. "Ugh, can I call you back this evening when I get to Nacrene?"

"Not a problem," he said with a grin. "It was nice getting to talk to you at all. I do miss you."

"I miss you too," she said with a chuckle. "Call you later." She hung up just as she reached the group. Cheren was looking serious as usual, while Bianca had her arm around a much younger girl who was in hysterical tears, much like Bianca had been the last time Delaney had seen her.

"Oh Christa, thank goodness it's you!" Bianca cried, despite the fact that she had been all but cursing Delaney's name last time they had battled. "We need your help!" And with that, she turned to the younger girl. "It's okay, Christa can help us. She's a really strong trainer - maybe even stronger than Cheren!"

From the looks of it, Cheren resented that remark, though Delaney was hoping he wasn't about to freak out and yell at her, since she wasn't the one who said it. "What do you need help with?" Delaney asked carefully, making sure not to agree to this without knowing what she was heading into.

"A couple of guys in weird costumes just came by and stole this little girl's lillipup," Cheren said pragmatically. Delaney felt her breath catch in her throat. No. Not again. She was not doing this again. She crossed her arms in front of her and narrowed her eyes at Cheren. "They ran into that cave over there. If we hurry, we should be able to catch them."

"No," Delaney said. Cheren and Bianca turned their heads quickly to look at her in utter confusion. "Cheren, you're a strong trainer. You can take them."

"Christa, please," Bianca said, pleading with her eyes. Judging by the look on Bianca's face, Delaney might as well have just hit her, or stolen the lillipup herself. The blonde girl looked absolutely wounded at the thought of Christa not helping.

"No," Delaney repeated firmly. "This is not my problem." And with that, she turned her back to them and continued to follow the path she hoped would lead to Nacrene, the winding path that had been so appealing earlier.

"What kind of person are you?" Cheren yelled after her furiously. "How can you be so selfish?" The young girl with them began to wail.

"Team Plasma's going to get away!" she sobbed.

"Don't worry, I'll go get your lillipup," he told her.

"Cheren, are you going to be okay?" Bianca asked worriedly.

"They're a bunch of losers in costume," Cheren scoffed. "Really, how tough can they be?"

* * *

Delaney began to run.

This wasn't about how Delaney felt about Cheren and Bianca. It wasn't about how much she did or didn't like them. It wasn't even that she just didn't want to. Team Plasma was not her problem, and she was not about to make them her problem, because this is how it starts.

It starts with something simple, something easy. "Help, this goon just stole [insert item or pokemon here]. Please help me get it back!" It's not too hard, the goon is easily disposed of, and they're really grateful, and it feels nice to be someone's hero and retrieve what is rightfully theirs.

It only goes downhill from there.

* * *

"Well that wasn't a long journey." She had plopped down in the grass at the side of the road, panting and clutching her side from the brief run. It almost made her cringe to think of how out of shape she was from the months of doing absolutely nothing.

"I'm still on the road," Delaney said briskly. "Or I was a minute ago, now I'm just… sitting. Something just happened. I'm pretty sure I'm an asshole."

"Calm your pretty little head and tell Dax what happened," he said. "I still love you even when you're an asshole."

* * *

Dax's topaz-colored eyes were frowning at her. "Not to be all judgmental here, but… I'm about to be all judgmental. Don't you think that was kind of a dick move?"

"I don't care." Delaney did her best to look like she really didn't care, but she still felt bad. Going to Dax for some sort of validation of her feelings really hadn't been the best move, even if he was the one person who could sort of understand the situation. His sense of morality was too rigid to see circumstance. "I am not getting involved in this."

"But they needed your help."

"Cheren and Bianca are strong enough trainers to handle the likes of them. Do you really think they're that strong if they're picking off children's pokemon just outside the city with the first gym?"

"Well you have a point, but it would've been the go-"

"Well I'm not a good person and I don't do the right thing," Delaney interrupted. "And it's over now, so let's talk about something more fun. Tell me about the cute boys there!" Not like she had ever really been the romantic sort, but if there was one thing to get Dax to pull a 180, it was talking about his various hook-ups and boyfriend hopefuls, because unlike her, he was a total sap for that stuff.

"Arceus, it's been awhile and I don't even know where to begin. Do you remember Kevin? Or…" Delaney smiled as he began his rant and smiled where appropriate. Dax was alight, and it was almost like the good old times. Almost.

It had been bright and sunny when Delaney had walked through the arch leading out of Striaton City. As she reached a sign that welcomed her to Nacrene City, the lights were on in the artsy lofts that made up the town, and the people that walked the streets wore jackets, as the temperature had fallen after the sun went down. It was still a lovely night though, and the streets were alive. Despite the events of the day, Delaney found herself smiling as she walked through the doors of Pokemon Center.

She handed her pokemon to the nurse on duty and asked for a room key, if there were any available, before taking a seat in the waiting area. She was disheartened to see the headline announcing the one-year anniversary since Team Galactic's takeover in Sinnoh. Apparently Unova cared about this blatant ratings grab as well. Despite her curiosity, Delaney didn't pick up the paper, didn't flip through to see what they had to say about Delaney Caldwell. Christa White figured it was unnecessary torture.

This time, when the nurse called the name Christa, Delaney's head snapped up instantly, and she went to collect her pokemon and room key. It bothered her slightly to think of how accustomed she was getting to being called Christa White, but it also meant that there was a very slim chance that anybody would take a guess at who she really was, and that was a good thing (or at the very least, it would please her father). She was more than happy to take Perry, Charlie and Dibs, the drilbur she had caught in Wellspring Cave once she was certain that Team Plasma, Cheren and Bianca had all vacated the area, as well as take the key for her room (she was getting rather lucky with not being forced to camp - not that she was complaining). The night was still young- perhaps there was something Delaney could do to redeem what had been an overall not very good day. All of those people on the street had to have something to do, right?

After placing the three pokeballs and the room key in her trainer's bag, Delaney walked out of the Pokemon Center, glancing around. The lofts and cobbled streets gave Nacrene an artsy feel to it. She smiled to herself as she paced away from the Pokemon Center. Musicians played outside of doorframes and fluorescent bulbs lit up galleries filled with pictures of people and pokemon. "It's you again," she heard someone say behind her, but she ignored it. She had met so few people that it wasn't really possible that the speaker could be talking to her. She continued to walk, and passed the gym, which was still brightly lit up. Maybe the leader would still be ready to battle… Maybe that was where she should be heading.

"Christa, right?" The voice was back. Delaney spun around, only to see the guy with long mint green hair that she had battled in Accumula - her first Unova battle. His name was… N, if she was remembering correctly, though she was sure she wasn't, because after all, who only had a single letter for a name?

"Right," she said with a small smile. She hadn't realized she had made a big enough impression on anybody to have them remember her. "And you're N. We battled in Accumula." Or at least she hoped he was N. If he wasn't, this was about to become very embarrassing.

"I remember you," he stated. Delaney couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not. "Your pokemon spoke to me. I'd like to hear their voices again, if that's okay with you."

Delaney wasn't sure if this was some sort of act, or if this guy really believed that he could somehow really understand her pokemon that well. She often got the drift of what Perry and Charlie were trying to communicate to her, but she wasn't even remotely under the impression that she could understand them, or that they "spoke to her" without ever speaking. Somehow, she found herself playing along with him, saying "sure, but this time it won't be such an easy battle" (and then inwardly cringing at how stupid the words that she had actually spoken aloud were - since when had she become such a cliché?).

N was frowning as he grabbed a pokeball and released a small blue and black tadpole. "Trainers are so quick to battle," he said softly with an air of disapproval on his breath. Delaney also frowned as she took out her pokedex to check out the unknown pokemon. She didn't understand how he could be so critical of trainers battling when he himself had pokemon and battled. Capturing pokemon only to make friends with them (as he had claimed during their first battle) was one thing, but it had been N who had challenged her to battle the first time. That made him no better than she was.

"It didn't take you too long to agree to the battle," Delaney pointed out as she checked back at her pokedex, which informed her that her opponent's pokemon was called tympole, and it was a water-type pokemon known as "the tadpole pokemon" (she never would've guessed). Thinking for but a second, she called out Charlie, who was wagging his stubby tail as he was released, a determined glint in his small eyes. Since battling Cilan in Striaton, Charlie had battled with a new sense of focus, one that Delaney was pretty grateful for. There was no doubt in either her brain or Charlie's that this tympole would soon be done for.

* * *

As Charlie slid back, unable to battle any longer, he was still wagging that tail at her. Delaney smiled at him, told him he had done a wonderful job and recalled him back so that he could rest. The timburr that had knocked Charlie flat was eagerly preparing to continue battle, but his trainer had a look of wide-eyed concern written all over his face. "Is he going to be okay?"

Delaney looked up at him. "Charlie? He'll be fine. A little resting and he'll be brand new," she said with a smile.

"How can you claim to care about your pokemon when you just let them get hurt over and over?" N asked, his tone becoming angry.

"Charlie's just tired, and maybe a little bruised up. He needs to rest and heal up and then he'll be fine," Delaney stated indignantly. "I care very much about my pokemon. How about you, N? You just commanded your timburr to attack my lillipup. Don't you love all pokemon? Why do you battle then?"

"Release one of your other pokemon." It was a statement, not a question.

"Excuse me?"

"One of your non-injured pokemon. Release one of them, so I can speak with them." N was adamant.

There was no sense in fighting further. Delaney grabbed both pokeballs of her other pokemon and released both Perry and Dibs. "Here. Converse all you want, N," Delaney stated with a roll of her eyes.

N bent down to wear Perry and Dibs stood, both clearly confused. "Can I ask you some questions about your trainer?" N said softly. Delaney was surprised by the change in his tone of voice. No longer was there frustration or indignance- just a bit of a childish giggle and a smile as he continued to speak in a low voice. The two small pokemon were animated as they made noise and waved their small arms.

And the more they spoke, the quicker N's smile faded.

"I don't understand," he said, more to himself than anyone.

"N, by battling, we become friends with pokemon. We help them unlock their potential and they help us unlock our own," Delaney explained.

"Do you really believe that your oshawott is happier with you than it would have been with its family?" N asked, his voice becoming angry again.

"I don't know that. I do know that he lived in a pokemon lab before I got him and he was spending his time in a pokeball on a shelf and yes, I believe he's happier with me than he was on that shelf." Delaney paused, taking a deep breath. "I'm not the best trainer, N. I'm sometimes impatient and sometimes, yes, I push my pokemon too hard. But I know they're my friends first and foremost. Some trainers don't think like that. You probably encountered some of them and that's why you are how you are, and I'm sorry. Those trainers didn't deserve to have pokemon."

With that, N grabbed a pokeball and recalled his timburr, who had been looking at him quizzically since N had ceased to battle and began talking instead. "I'm sorry, my friends," he muttered.

"N, what are you doing?" Delaney asked.

"I don't want to battle anymore," was all he said, and with that, he walked off, leaving Delaney, Perry and Dibs to stare after him in utter confusion.

"What?" was all Delaney could say. In all of her time training, she had never once had her opponent just walk off in the middle of the match.

"Still talking to yourself?" came another voice from behind her. Delaney spun around, only to see the trainer with the lillipup whom she had battled before reaching Striaton City (Cream was her name, if Delaney remembered correctly) leaning against the post of a nearby building. "You've gotten a lot better. I'd challenge you myself if I didn't see the way that guy's timburr totally smashed down on your lillipup. He's a weirdo."

"Were you watching the whole thing?" Delaney asked, a bit unnerved. The idea that somebody had been watching her without her knowledge scared her. And why didn't N say something? From where he was standing, Cream had been directly in his sightline.

"What can I say, a random street battle was the closest thing to entertainment here," she said with a smirk, shrugging her thin shoulders "Even better when I saw it was you battling. I was hoping I'd see you lose, but unfortunately I didn't get that pleasure. I can't believe that kid just walked off in the middle of your battle."

"It was… definitely weird," Delaney muttered. "Are you here to battle the gym? Maybe we can battle tomorrow as practice."

Cream laughed. "Gym? Please. I've never seen the point in battling them. You train, and you stress and you agonize over what? A shiny hunk of metal? I find much more worthy things to fill my time."

"And what would that be?" Delaney asked, genuinely curious. She had taken the green-haired girl's words to heart - she remembered all too well wondering why she was doing the gym challenge in Sinnoh, when none of the badges ever seemed to matter to her.

The smirk on her face vanished. "I… I don't know," she admitted. And then the scowl returned. "But the badge thing? A waste of time. Do you know how few trainers actually complete all eight and get to the Pokemon League?" Yes, Delaney did know. Out of all the trainers she had battled, only herself, Dax and a small handful of others actually made it all the way. "You have to have a special kind of talent for that, and you're not going to get there by winning just because your opponent walks off."

"Well good thing I can win with my opponent still present at the end," Delaney said with a grin. "You proved to me a few days ago that I could do that."

Cream rolled her eyes. "That was a fluke," she said. Cream appeared to think for a moment, and then moved from the pole that she had been leaning on. "I've got to get to Castelia by the end of the night," she said finally. "I hope that gym leader really lays into you."

And with that, the green-haired girl was gone.

Delaney looked down at Perry and Dibs, who were still standing there, rather puzzled. "Well, it seems like every time we go out for some fun, we get interrupted," she said with a chuckle. "Let's just go back to the Pokemon Center. This has been a rather eventful evening." The two trailed behind Delaney as she began to head back.

Eventful evening indeed.

* * *

There they stood, all in a line. Their voices were low, and their attention so focused that they hadn't even heard Delaney walking up towards them. They were plotting something, but she didn't know what, nor did she want to know. Delaney figured the forest adjacent to Nacrene would be the best place to train for her upcoming battle at the gym, but with Team Plasma there, there was no chance in hell that Delaney was going to get the training she needed there. Besides, with their blockade, there was no way for her to get past them.

She headed back in the direction of Nacrene, only to notice a small patch of grass that she hadn't noticed on her way into the forest. She also noticed that the patch of grass wasn't lined on the side opposite of her by trees, but by open space. Perhaps she had a place she could train after all…

Delaney had one hand on the pokeball that contained Perry as she wandered through the grass. To her surprise, it was not open space on the other side- it was more grass and a large boulder, with trainers surrounding the area. A few blackbelts were sparring with their pokemon while another trainer sat on a smaller rock, watching them. His appearance was atypical of most trainers-other than being more attractive than anyone else she had yet encountered in Unova. He just looked a bit too well-groomed to be very serious about traveling. His bright green polo shirt was without holes, his jean shorts weren't frayed or holy either and his white sneakers had but a few grass marks on them and a bit of mud on the soles. His curious grey eyes that followed the pokemon as they kicked and punched traveled to Delaney as she approached the area.

"Looking for a battle?" he asked, eyebrows raised. "I will, but I'm not going to lie to you, I'm really not feeling it right now, so I will probably frown the whole time."

"I'm not going to force you," Delaney chuckled, trying to force herself not to turn beet red like she often did when talking to guys. "Are you a new trainer?"

"What gave me away?"

"Your shoes are too nice." She lifted her leg up on the rock to show him her own shoe as a comparison. It was amazing they still formed to her feet at this rate.

His eyes widened. "Well it's a good thing I'm not battling you if you have that much experience." He frowned at his sneakers and attempted to rub off a grass stain. "My manners are shit, sorry. I'm Andrew."

"Christa," Delaney said, fiddling with a lock of her hair. "What are you doing over here if you're not battling?"

"Just watching," he said. "You can learn a lot from these guys."

"About fighting?"

"Among other things," he said with a chuckle. "Look at how in sync they are with their pokemon. It's just awesome." He stared at an older man kicking in time with the blue humanoid pokemon about a foot and a half shorter than himself, also wearing a karate gi and a blackbelt. "Sorry, I'm kind of nerding out. It's exciting to see people who make training an art form. Not really something I'm good at, so I just admire it in others instead."

"No, it's okay!" Delaney said quickly, her eyes following the trainer and his pokemon. "I should probably get to training if I'm going to challenge the gym tomorrow."

"Oh, a gym trainer?" Andrew grinned. "Well now you have to win tomorrow so I can eventually say I have a friend who won a badge from… Shit, I don't even know what this gym leader's name is. I just got here this morning."

"I don't know either," Delaney admitted. "Some trainer I am."

"Some trainer indeed…" Andrew said thoughtfully. "Well hopefully I'll run into you later, but if not, good luck on your journey. I'm sure at the very least I'll be hearing about you someday."

Delaney once again grasped Perry's pokéball, ready to leave Andrew and get back to training. "You owe me a battle, you know. Our eyes did meet, and you know what that means."

"That I'm very fortunate you didn't use that bullshit to make me battle in the first place?"

"Right!" Delaney laughed.

"So there, now I have an excuse to see you again," he said with a mischievous grin. "Now go train hard for whoever this gym leader is."

Reluctantly, Delaney said goodbye and waved, heading back into the tall grass. She released Perry at last and the small otter looked at her expectantly. Delaney was smiling brightly. "That was the first person I've actually gotten along with in Unova," Delaney informed the oshawott, pointing in the general direction that she had come from. "I know you can't see, but he's over there. His name is Andrew, and he was totally cute, and I think he was flirting with me but I'm really bad at this sort of thing, so I'm not sure."

"Wott?" Perry was puzzled. This was a side of Delaney he was not quite familiar with. Delaney wasn't very familiar with it either.

"Sorry, I'm being a girl. Let's leave the talk of cute boys for after we get our next gym badge!" A grey and white bird (Delaney recognized it as a pidove) landed right in from of Perry, who looked up at her eagerly, ready for sparring. "Let's go!"

* * *

**Author's Note (06/24/14): **Just want to give a huge thank you to you all for the great constructive reviews I've been getting. It's actually really helpful to me to continue to improve as a writer, and that's why we're all here, right? So it's been really awesome and I'm very appreciative of all my readers and reviewers.

Also a thank you to **Maddiepink5**, who submitted Cream as an OC way back when for the original TCatG, for continuing to me to allow to use Cream, and a huge thank you to my beta, **Noteleks. **


End file.
